Showing posts with label red velvet. Show all posts
CoKF: SM Entertainment's Controversy (Red Velvet & Sulli)
Not even a day into their debut and SM Entertainment's newest group, Red Velvet is in hot waters. Not only have they been in controversy with their name scandal (a K-Indie band entitled 'Red Velvet' who apparently did not buy rights to the name and therefore, had to kind of fight with the agency only to have both group's keep the name) and then this one, SM Entertainment having Red Velvet's own debut music video, Happiness, feature the Japanese Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb incidents as well as a reference to the United States' devastating 9/11 incident. Of course, SM Entertainment is now removing Red Velvet's music video until further editing out of the scenes however, us writers at K-Pop Ranter want to shed light of the scandal revolving this group and SM Entertainment's carelessness.
Tiffany: This is like... explosive carelessness. Not even using just one countries unforgettable moment but using two to simply make a point for this music video? It's seriously beyond my head as to what this company was thinking when they incorporated that in there. There is literally no respect for international fans that don't have a big enough market as SM Entertainment gets with China. None. And what's funny, to people who are defending this (yes, I have actually seen some commenters say that it's 'no big deal'), is that everyone would be up in arms if there was incorporation of, for example, the Sewol Ferry incident, in a music video because that was a tragic accident as were the other two for the differing countries. There's no reason for the defense and especially no reason to believe SM Entertainment's excuse that they didn't 'catch it'. They surely did. They incorporated those elements on purpose regardless of it being a different language. All of those newspapers behind Irene? All English however, all focusing on the Japanese atomic bomb incident. This clearly wasn't a 'let's just google English newspapers' ordeal. This was intentional. The only reason why they're acting like this now is because they were caught, red-handed.
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| SM's policy: Don't give a fuck til' the public gives a fuck then act as if you actually give a fuck |
Likewise, as we are focusing on SM Entertainment scandals, we wanted to bring forth the ongoing scandal between Sulli and what seems like the world, starting in 2013 with a full explanation of her scandals here and still going on towards the end of 2014, the scandal mostly revolving around none other than her relationship with Choiza. Because we have time on our hands, we can discuss both of these scandals that are brewing in the SM Entertainment headquarters and causing ruckus especially with f(x) who halted their Red Light promotions abruptly without giving much word as to why.Tiffany: There's this ping-pong effect over who's fault this whole controversy is. Obviously, f(x) halted promotions randomly. Obviously, Sulli was in controversy prior and during the promotions. Obviously, the controversy mostly surrounded Choiza. However, after seeing deleted pictures online of Sulli and Choiza's date/vacation with each other, everyone is now putting the blame on Sulli as if it's her sole fault. I truly believe she should be able to date whoever she wants as everyone should. But not only is SM Entertainment continuously denying the cold hard facts that they're dating/not even saying anything anymore (which really isn't much of an issue, in my opinion) but Choiza is just having a ball with this scandal. He's mentioning it everywhere, uploading pictures, doing anything he can to ensure that everyone knows that Sulli is taken by him. And though it's cute that he's claiming her as his girl, it's somewhat... unprofessional especially at this time where she's promoting and the scandal was just dying down. Him leaving his wallet? His fault. These pictures going around? His fault. And no one is realizing that. Sulli shouldn't be blamed for loving him. He should be blamed for acting like a brainless douche who could care less about Sulli's condition but more about his own happiness. I speak for Sulli who hasn't been speaking much at all when I say that Choiza is ruining his own image as well as Sulli's and should just stop.
Andi: I completely agree with Tiffany. In the world of Kpop, females are viewed more critically and are bashed more frequently and with more ease than males. Choiza should know and understand this especially when his girlfriend is busy promoting her group's latest song. This is when people are paying attention to them the most and here's Choiza, not giving a damn about neither his own or his girlfriend's reputation. Sulli has already been in numerous scandals as it is and if she's trying to make up for her mistakes she made in the past, Choiza certainly isn't helping her situation at all. SM Entertainment isn't helping either by continually denying it. By now, SM should just accept the truth that the two are dating and release an official statement to hopefully put an end to all this madness.
Review: Red Velvet Debuts with Happiness
Apart from the scandals that keep piling up surrounding this group, SM Entertainment has released a promising group in the midst of the Sulli scandals entitled Red Velvet. Singing about Happiness, though, ironically, these girls can't be happy with the fact they're already in conflicts, you can check out the music video below.
First off, I'm going to say that the accusations of these girls looking extremely similar are true however, I can clearly make out small differences between the girls (other than their hair color) to distinguish each and every member--Joy, Seulgi, Irene and Wendy (I said their names without having to Google it. Thumbs up for me?)--such as a more sloped eye shape without even trying to therefore, I'm more convinced that people just aren't well, paying that much attention. I mean, without paying attention, though could look like the same one girl to certain people, they have their own individual colors--Irene (red) being the more sexy one, Wendy (blue) probably being more of the girl next door type, Joy (green) being the more cutesy one and last but not least, Seulgi (yellow), being the more fierce type... or maybe that's just my distinction when classifying their faces and how they acted in the music video.
The person who stood out to me the most was none other than the red haired girl, Irene, (had to Google that one. Yikes!). Not only was she the one with the most screen time... in what I acquired, at least, but she seemed to be the one with the most... flair. She had the biggest hold on me regardless of how bad she was at rapping. She seemed to be the most promising one hence why she stood out the most during the music video. Definitely her as well as Joy are probably ones I will be paying more attention to as the time goes on.
Now let's get on with the actual review. SM Entertainment promised to deliver a group that was the mix of f(x) and Girls' Generation in subtle consideration that these girls don't have much time left with them. Yes, I said it. Fans of both groups can hang me and burn me at the stake if they like but it's true. And this group was really what they said--a mix of both f(x) and Girls' Generation. I mean, it was more towards the f(x) side--a fiercey song--however, there were cutesy elements that were incorporated and made me remember the days when Girls' Generation were still well, girls. However, though they wanted to deliver a mix of both successful concepts which would later be known as original, this girl group has nothing to leave me caring about them other than the fact that their apart of a huge company. This debut was good but it didn't stand out to me like I wish it did. These four girls have no elements that draw me to them, really. This song has no elements that draw me to the girls. And this music video has no elements that draw me to the song.
Which leads me to explain why.
The music video, to SM Entertainment's standards, was pretty well made. I mean, I'm not saying it was perfect or going to give it the extreme credit of all credits because there were other SM Entertainment music videos that stood out to me more than this such as EXO's Overdose even though it was mostly dancing, however, is this necessarily bad? No. It's just not that... stand-outy. Sure, there was a bunch of tropical shit with plants and exotic animals but am I really impressed and dying to know more about the girls? No, again. This was ordinary. This was bland. This was, meh.
They should have given as much originality and draw to the girls as they tried with EXO.
The song? It was pretty well made, as well. It's not perfect, again, but it's audible. Can I listen to it sometimes? Do I see myself listening to it for years and years to come like I do with f(x) and Girls' Generation songs? No. It's not memorable. It's not drawing. It's just... there. Wendy's (blue) random solo part where she sang Shine on Me was probably the most memorable because it was the most out of place thing yet. Other than that, the song isn't much of a hold for these girls.
Lastly, this debut was fine. The song was fine, the music video was fine... but it wasn't outstanding or great especially comparing to other groups out there at this present day with their songs coming out. Of course, because it's an SM Entertainment group, these girls are going to prosper eventually. However, I'm not going to be the one to jump on the Red Velvet boat until I actually do see their originality... shine.
What did you think about Red Velvet's Happiness? Loved it? Hated it? Comment below!
