Russian Roulette (Red Velvet EP)

''Russian Roulette'' is the third Korean extended play by South Korean girl group Red Velvet. It was released on September 7, 2016, by SM Entertainment.

The album is the group's second 'Red' and 'Velvet' album, after releasing ''Ice Cream Cake'' in 2015. The EP consists of seven tracks, including the lead single "Russian Roulette".

Background and release

Despite earlier reports of Red Velvet having a summer comeback, SM Entertainment announced that the group would release a new album in September. Member and leader Irene talked about the difficulties the group faced while preparing for the album on the September 9 broadcast of the radio show ''Super Junior's Kiss the Radio'' and stated that it was "physically and mentally tiring as the comeback date kept getting postponed".

After revealing the first teaser on September 1, SM Entertainment announced that Red Velvet will release their third extended play on September 7, with seven tracks in the album. The album and title track were both titled ''Russian Roulette''.

Composition

The title track "Russian Roulette" is a synth-pop song with arcade sound feel with a retro 8-bit sound source. The song was produced by Albi Albertsson, Belle Humble and Markus Lindell who also had a part in producing their previous album's title track "One of These Nights". Its lyrics compare the process of winning someone's heart with a game of Russian roulette. On the September 13 broadcast of SBS Power FM radio show "Choi Hwa-jung's Power Time", the members revealed that the song was written before they debuted. They heard the song then, when they were still trainees, not realizing they would release it.

"Lucky Girl" is a retro-style dance-pop song produced by Hayley Aitken and Ollipop with lyrics written by Kenzie. "Bad Dracula" was produced by Tomas Smågesjø, Choi Jin-Suk, and Nermin Harambasic from Dsign Music and American singer-songwriter Courtney Jenaé Stahl with lyrics by Jo Yun-gyeong, who also wrote the lyrics of the title track. "Sunny Afternoon" is a 90s throwback, slick song and is produced by Swedish producers Simon Petrén & Andreas Öberg, Maja Keuc and Kim One with Korean lyrics written by Jeong Ju Hee. "Fool" is an acoustic pop song written by January 8 of Jam Factory and composed by Malin Johansson and Josef Melin. "Some Love" is a tropical house song written and produced by Kenzie, while "My Dear" was written and produced by Hwang Hyun of MonoTree.

Promotion

Red Velvet held a special countdown to the release of their album through Naver's V app on September 6, just an hour before the release of "Russian Roulette"'s music video and the album. The group started their music show promotions on September 8, on ''M! Countdown'', performing "Russian Roulette" and "Lucky Girl". This was followed by performances on '' Music Bank'' and ''Inkigayo'' where they also performed both songs.

Critical reception

Tamar Herman of ''Billboard'' wrote that the song was "more saccharine than their typical sound" and described the music video as a "bubbly, athletic-themed music video that offered fun times for all as a murderous ode to ''The Simpsons impish duo Itchy and Scratchy." It ranked sixth on 20 Best Kpop Tracks of the Year by '' Dazed Digital''. Taylor Glasby commented that the video "has a sinister combination of sweetness and threat" and called the song "devilishly satisfying".

Bradley Stern of '' PopCrush'' called the title track a "perky, retro-sounding electro-pop tune" that was expected from most k-pop idols, and praised the black comedy in the song's music video. He compared it to the film '' Jawbreaker'' and said it's "pretty genius".

Commercial performance

The album peaked at No. 2 on ''Billboard''s World Albums Chart and peaked at No. 18 on Heatseekers Albums chart, their highest to date. The title track "Russian Roulette" also charted at No. 2 on World Digital Songs, making it their highest ranking on the chart. The album debuted at no. 1 on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart, with "Russian Roulette" charting at no. 3 on its Weekly Digital Chart, before rising to no. 2 one week later. All of the album's other tracks also charted. "Russian Roulette" became the most-viewed K-pop music video for the month of September in America and worldwide. The album peaked at number 63 on the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums for the week of September 19, 2016.

The group won their first music show trophy for "Russian Roulette" on the September 13 broadcast of '' The Show''.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Russian Roulette''.

* Lee Soo-man producer
* Jeong Eun-kyeongrecording engineer
* Kim Hyun-gonrecording engineer
* Jang Woo-youngrecording engineer
* Lee Ji-hongrecording engineer
* Hwang Hyunrecording engineer
* Lee Ju-youngrecording engineer
* Choo Dae-kwanrecording engineer assistant
* Nam Koong-jin (SM Concert Hall Studio)mixing engineer
* Koo Jong-pil (Beat Burger) (SM Yellow Tail Studio)mixing engineer
* Kim Cheol-soon (SM Blue Ocean Studio)mixing engineer
* Jeong Ui-seok (SM Blue Cup Studio)mixing engineer
* Tom Coyne (Sterling Sound) master engineer
* Min Hee-jincreative director
* Shin Hee-wonmusic video director
* Min Hee-jindesign
* Jo Woo-cheolGraphic design
* Kim Ye-minGraphic design
* Kim Ju-youngGraphic design
* Kim Han-kyeolGraphic design
* No Hae-nastylist
* Jeong Seon-eehair stylist
* Kim Ji-youngmake-up artist
* Kim Yong-minexecutive supervisor
* Red Velvetvocals
** Irenevocals
** Seulgivocals
** Wendyvocals
** Joyvocals
** Yerivocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Accolade

Year-end awards

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russian Roulette
Red Velvet (group) EPs
2016 EPs
SM Entertainment EPs
Korean-language EPs
2010s Korean-language albums
Pop music EPs