Red Velvet brings us their second song on SM Station called “Rebirth,” a cover of Yoon Jong-shin‘s “Rebirth.” It’s also a part of a Snowball Project between SM Entertainment and Mystic Entertainment to “snowball” their popularity to even greater heights. In return, Mystic Entertainment concurrently dropped a cover of Red Velvet’s “Dumb Dumb” by Jane Jang, Giant Pink and PERC%NT. Red Velvet’s version of “Rebirth” contains a visually focused, low-budget, reaction to the sensation of love at first sight.
The theme of love is probably the most overblown and cliche theme in girl groups and K-pop. It’s probably not a stretch to say that at least 90 percent of MVs relate to infatuation and love, and Red Velvet is no exception. While it’s probably the most overblown concept in pop music, Red Velvet took a shot at trying to make a unique video around the concept of a life-changing love.
The video is a one-shot take of the women swooning over the teacher of a class. In the background, the other classmates are turning the classroom into chaos. By the end of the video, pure disorder has devolved into a dance on a strip pole and streamers covering a group of rowdy school girls carrying random assorted objects like boxing gloves and a mop. While the video obviously has over the top moments — perhaps to make it more visually stimulating and less boring — it is a relatively accurate portrayal of a deep love.
In the meantime, the reaction of the Red Velvet women to the teacher seems quite genuine. While it is obviously a bit satirical and a bit overdone in some situations, the women’s reaction seem legitimate. The first time someone gets feelings for someone, they kind of lose their ability to totally process their reactions and feelings. Everything turns into some weird instinct that doesn’t always make sense. Instead of acting like normal, it becomes a bumbling mess of awkward reactions and attempts to draw the loved one’s attention. Red Velvet gives us five different reactions to this intense infatuation and all of them are quite visible in a high school classroom.
The most ridiculous reaction is probably from Wendy. She’s the flamboyant version of the attention-seeking “LOOK AT ME” girl. For the entirety of the video, she bashes two bagels together and waves them around with a love-struck smile on her face, perhaps alluding towards the class clown approach to attracting attention. In equal ridiculousness, Joy pulls out her girl-next-door charm and sexiness as she flips her hair seductively and switches poses to show off her visual appeal. Next to her, Seulgi bewilders over the teacher. She flashes the biggest smile she can and also blows a whistle as a way to say “Stop, you’re too funny” and giving a red card with her notepad. Yeri just chills on the side showing the voiceless reaction of a high school girl — the one that just sits likes a statue with an irresistible smile as she hangs on every word with a never-ending gaze. Irene sits in the middle of the women doing what she does best, flashing her eyes with a hint of pure infatuation while showing off her small, bright smile. The glasses perhaps hint that she’s the book worm studying extra hard and asking questions to get the teacher to notice.
Musically, the song is cute and simple. Perhaps it’s not the “Velvet” side of the group, but it’s a cute and refreshing side that isn’t a part of their in-your-face singles such as “Rookie” and “Dumb Dumb.” The instrumental melody is simple and it uses airy flutes along with some kind of combination of mallet percussion instrument and perhaps a little synth. This light instrumentation allows the women to flash their harmonies about their love. The talent of the members is something hard to pull from their singles, but these SM Station songs are a great way for the women to show their talent.
Red Velvet is known for their red-hot singles with loud and brash instrumentation, so seeing more relaxed songs like “Would You” and “Rebirth” on SM Station is always refreshing. “Rebirth” is a perfect foil to “Red Flavor.” While it’s obviously a low-budget video, the song and video showcase everything fans love about Red Velvet. Their ability to draw all eyes plus their charm and energy can even be thrown into these slower songs, and it’s everything a Red Velvet fan could love.
(Images via SM Entertainment)
