Are you feeling it now? (The ReVe Festival 2022 — Feel My Rhythm)
Red Velvet is back. Or Bach: the cake quintet’s latest title track interpolates the German composer’s Air on G String. But is it a match made in classical heaven or another polarizing gimmick à la Zimzalabim?
It’s been seven months since the girls dropped Queendom, a quality mini and arguably one of their best (Pose? Hello, Sunset?) And from the concept photos and teasers we’ve seen for this comeback, it looks like Red Velvet wants to/is looking to dominate the airwaves of spring this time.
So, here’s everything I loved about The ReVe Festival 2022 — Feel My Rhythm!
Feel My Rhythm
Title track. Think a Vivaldified Psycho: luscious string instrumentation tossed in the waves of an urgent trap beat. It’s frantic, it’s euphonious, it’s the spring banger Bach wished he had composed. If you can’t feel their rhythm then maybe you haven’t truly experienced the song yet.
Rainbow Halo
The girls give great one-two punches: Red Flavor to You Better Know, Ice Cream Cake to Automatic, to name a few. And Rainbow Halo wants to keep that streak going. What really makes this track shine is the colorful addition of the saxophone in the post-hook. Stank face.
Beg For Me
Smack dab in the middle of the tracklist is Beg For Me, which boasts the album’s stickiest hook and has Red Velvet at their peak Dominant Queen Energy. Never have the girls sounded so confident and full of sass and attitude: Dance for me, work for me, beg for me.
BAMBOLEO
The younger, freewheeling sister to Ladies Night. You can never go wrong with city pop, but charm and energy the girls bring in this cut especially in the chorus elevates the genre to new heights. Groovy, infectious, an instant standout.
Good, Bad, Ugly
This is also the girls’ jazziest release since Russian Roulette. The track feels like a sunny afternoon stroll in the spring gardens: bright piano chords and groovy bass over a shuffling beat.
In My Dreams
A perfect closer to a perfect opener. The music box intro foreshadows the trance you will be likely put into by this hypnotic track. While Red Velvet are no stranger to the ballad, this one feels the most cathartic and vivid: a tear-down-the-walls moment for a love lost.
Red Velvet is one of Kpop’s most anticipated comebacks this year and deservingly so. While the girls have definitely been putting out quality releases year after year, The ReVe Festival 2022 — Feel My Rhythm is a tad more ambitious and diverse; the music, more theatrical and grander in scale. The girls wanted that spring crown and they got it as effortlessly as the easy winds of spring.
