''Chill Kill'' is the third Korean studio album and fourth overall by South Korean girl group Red Velvet. It was released by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

on November 13, 2023, and contains ten tracks, including the lead single of the same name.

Background and release

On September 18, 2023, SM Entertainment announced that Red Velvet would be releasing their third studio album in November 2023. On October 18, it was announced that their third studio album titled ''What a Chill Kill'' would be released on November 13. Five days later, the album name was renamed to ''Chill Kill'', and would contain ten tracks, including the lead single of the same name. On October 24, the promotional schedule was released. On October 25, the mood sampler teaser videos for Seulgi, Irene, Joy, and Yeri were released, followed by the teaser video for Wendy a day later. On November 6, the teaser trailer was released. On November 9, the highlight medley teaser video was released, followed by the music video teaser for "Chill Kill" a day later. The album was released alongside the music video for "Chill Kill" on November 13.

Composition

''Chill Kill'' contains ten tracks. The lead single "Chill Kill" is a

pop dance Dance-pop is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developi ...

song characterized by "heavy bass, string melodies, dreamy synths, and bell rhythm" with lyrics "expressing the narrative of a love affair and longing for the other person even in the midst of tragedy when the quiet world was turned upside down". The second track "Knock Knock (Who's There?)" is a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

song characterized by "the combination of sharp string rhythm and mysterious bell sounds with heavy bass" with lyrics "depicting the moment of falling into a sweet and dizzying

game of tag Tag (also called chase, tig, it, tiggy, tips, tick, on-on and tip) is a playground game involving one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to "tag" and mark them out of play, typically by touching with a hand. There are many var ...

in a dream that begins with a knock on the door". The third track "Underwater" adopts a "slow-tempo" R&B vibe, characterized by "heavy and groovy bass, and dreamy synth rhythm" with lyrics about "comparing the infinite love to distant deep water". The fourth track "Will I Ever See You Again?" features "energetic beats and synth drop" with lyrics having the theme of "moving forward with a calm and positive attitude in any situation". The fifth track "Nightmare" is a "medium-tempo" R&B song with "heavy string orchestration and a retro swing rhythm". The sixth track "Iced Coffee" is a "minimal" R&B ballad song with "emotional strings and calm guitar rhythm". The seventh track "One Kiss" is a "fast-paced groove" dance song that "combines powerful bass and synth sounds with an addictive hook" with lyrics about "capturing the heart a stranger with just a kiss while making it the perfect secret". The eighth track "Bulldozer" is a dance song featuring "heavy and powerful bass, and catchy sound effects" with lyrics "expressing the attitude of not stopping, and breaking it if someone sets a limit or blocks it". The ninth track "Wings" adopts a "up-tempo" R&B vibe, bringing together "piano, bell, and synth rhythm combined with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

" with lyrics about "delivering a message of hope and support" carrying the message of "comparing the attitude toward life to the birth and flight of a butterfly". For the tenth and final track "Scenery" was described as a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

song highlighted by "gentle guitar melody" with lyrics narrating "a simple story about drawing the precious memories accumulated over a long time like a landscape painting of the four seasons by filling each day together".

Commercial performance

''Chill Kill'' debuted at number two on South Korea's

Circle Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...

in the chart issue dated November 19–25, 2023. The album later rose to number one on Circle Album Chart in the chart issue dated December 17-23, 2023, becoming Red Velvet's thirteenth number-one album on the said chart, extend their record as a girl group with the most number-one album. In Japan, the album debuted at number 45 on the ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence fr ...

'' Hot Albums in the chart issue dated November 15, 2023; on its component chart, the album debuted at number 12 on the Top Download Albums. On the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

chart, the album debuted at number 25 on the Albums Chart, and number 14 on the Digital Albums Chart in the chart issue dated November 27, 2023. In the United States, ''Chill Kill'' debuted at number 14 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' World Albums, and number 14 on the ''Billboard''

Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

in the chart issue dated November 25, 2023. In United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 33 on the OCC's

UK Album Downloads Chart The UK Album Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts on behalf of the British music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The chart was introduced i ...

. In Australia, the album debuted at number ten on the

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

Top 20 Hitseekers Albums Chart in the chart issue dated November 20, 2023.

Critical reception

'' ranked the album at number 22 on their list of The 25 Best K-Pop Albums of 2023, noting "Chill Kill" and "Knock Knock (Who's There?)" for "harking back" to the group's previous works like " Bad Boy" and " Psycho". The publication called the track "Will I Ever See You Again" "a Technicolor dream woven with dancing synths" and referred to "Underwater" as "one of Red Velvet's most satisfyingly sultry moments." ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

'' praised the record's composition and musical styles and ranked it number 12 on their list of The 20 Best K-pop Albums of 2023, and ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' ranked "Knock Knock (Who's There?)" at number 9 on their list of The best 25 K-pop songs of 2023.

Promotion

Prior to the release of ''Chill Kill'', on November 13, 2023, Red Velvet held a live event called "Red Velvet 'Chill Kill' Countdown Live" on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

Weverse Weverse () is a South Korean mobile app and web platform created by South Korean entertainment company Hybe Corporation. The app specializes in hosting multimedia content, the sale of artist-related merchandise, content subscription, and artist ...

, and Idol Plus, aimed at introducing the album and connecting with their fanbase.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from album's liner notes. Studio * SM LVYIN Studio –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

digital editing In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic d ...

, engineered for mix, mixing * SM Droplet Studio – recording * SM Yellow Tail Studio – recording , digital editing, engineered for mix * Doobdoob Studio – recording , digital editing * SM SSAM Studio – recording , digital editing , engineered for mix * 77F Studio – digital editing * SM Aube Studio – digital editing * SM Starlight Studio – digital editing , mixing * SM Big Shot Studio – digital editing , engineered for mix * Sound Pool Studio – digital editing , mixing * MonoTree Studio – digital editing * SM Blue Ocean Studio – mixing * SM Blue Cup Studio – mixing * Klang Studio – mixing * SM Concert Hall Studio – mixing * 821 Sound – mastering Personnel * Red Velvet – vocals,

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

* Kenzie – lyrics,

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

, vocal directing * Jonatan Gusmark (Moonshine) – composition, arrangement * Ludvig Evers (Moonshine) – composition, arrangement * Moa "Cazzi Opeia" Carlebecker – composition, background vocals * Ellen Berg – composition , background vocals *

Jo Yoon-kyung Jo Yoon-kyung () is a South Korean lyricist and writer. She has written primarily for SM Entertainment artists such as BoA, Girls' Generation, Shinee, Exo, NCT, Red Velvet, and Aespa. In 2017, she won Lyricist of the Year at the Gaon Chart ...

– lyrics * Jinbyjin – composition, arrangement, vocal directing * Kim Bo-eun (

Jam Factory Jam Factory may refer to: * Jam Factory (band), an American soul music group from Syracuse, New York, active in the 1970s *Jam Factory (music publisher) Jam Factory may refer to: * Jam Factory (band), an American soul music group from Syracuse, Ne ...

) – lyrics * B Ham – composition, arrangement * Deez – composition, arrangement, vocal directing * Lourdiz – composition, background vocals * Lee Eun-hwa (153/Joombas) – lyrics * Kang Eun-jung – lyrics * Lee Hye-yum (Jam Factory) – lyrics *

Lee Seu-ran Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

– lyrics * Moon Seol-ri – lyrics * Mats Koray Genc JFMee – composition, arrangement *

Nermin Harambašić Dsign Music is a Norwegian songwriting and music production company, established in 2004 consisting of the members Robin Jenssen, Anne Judith Stokke Wik, Nermin Harambašić, Ronny Vidar Svendsen, JINBYJIN and Adrian Thesen (pizzapunk).Music N ...

– composition * Siv Marit Egseth YNGA – composition * Hugo Solis – composition * Kristian Dahl Bergsland – composition * Mok Ji-min (Lalala Studio) – lyrics * David Anthony Eames Bangkok – composition, arrangement * Alina Smith (Lyre) – composition, arrangement, background vocals,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

* Annalise Morelli (153/Joombas) Elli Moore (Lyre) – composition, arrangement * Gabriella DeMartino – composition * Bay (153/Joombas) – lyrics * Jacob Attwooll – composition, arrangement * Jon Eyden – composition * Jang Jung-won (Jam Factory) – lyrics * Na Jeong-ah (153/Joombas) – lyrics * Greg Bonnick (

LDN Noise LDN Noise (pronounced ''London Noise'') is a British songwriting and record production duo based in London, England. Consisting of songwriter Greg Bonnick and DJ Hayden Chapman, the duo has worked with artists such as Nathan Sykes, Nick Jon ...

) – composition, arrangement * Hayden Chapman (

) – composition, arrangement * Adrian McKinnon – composition, background vocals * Taet Chesterton – composition, background vocals * Sevn Dayz – composition, background vocals * Lee Joo-hyung (MonoTree) – lyrics, composition, arrangement, vocal directing,

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, keyboards,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

operating, digital editing * Jukjae – composition, arrangement, guitar * Willemijn May – composition * Ciara Muscat – composition * Kim Jin-hwan – vocal directing * Seo Mi-rae – vocal directing, Pro Tools operating , digital editing * Maxx Song – vocal directing, Pro Tools operating * MinGtion – vocal directing * Kwon Ae-jin – background vocals * Lee Ji-hong – recording , digital editing , engineered for mix, mixing * Noh Min-ji – recording , digital editing, engineered for mix * Kim Joo-hyun – recording * Kim Hyo-joon – recording , digital editing * Kang Eun-ji – recording , digital editing , engineered for mix * Eugene Kwon – recording , digital editing * Jang Woo-young – recording , digital editing * Kim Ji-hyun – recording * Woo Min-jeong – digital editing * Jeong Yoo-ra – digital editing , mixing * Lee Min-kyu – digital editing , engineered for mix * Jeong Ho-jin – digital editing * Kim Cheol-sun – mixing * Jung Eui-seok – mixing * Kim Han-koo – mixing * Koo Jong-pil – mixing * Nam Koong-jin – mixing * Kwon Nam-woo – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Red Velvet Red Velvet (group) albums 2023 albums 2020s Korean-language albums SM Entertainment albums Kakao Entertainment albums