50 Fun Facts About Red Velvet (K-pop)

Red Velvet performed at Spring Is Coming, a 2018 diplomatic concert staged in which country?

North Korea hosted the show in Pyongyang, where leader Kim Jong-un sat in the audience. No act from the group's agency had performed there for fifteen years.

Red Velvet voiced a K-pop girl group in which 2020 animated musical film sequel?

Trolls World Tour cast the five as characters named Wani, Baby Bun, Gomdori, Ari and Kim-Petit. One of the group's own hits also plays in the film.

Which 2022 Red Velvet single is built on a sample of Bach's 'Air on the G String'?

Feel My Rhythm sets the baroque melody against hard trap percussion. Its video is staged as an opera that restages famous paintings, among them Ophelia and The Swing.

Which 2016 Red Velvet single has a cartoonish video of deadly pranks inspired by Itchy & Scratchy?

Russian Roulette shows the members dropping pianos and refrigerators on one another in a bright, sporty setting. It won Best Music Video at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.

Which member joined Red Velvet in March 2015, seven months after the group debuted as a quartet?

Yeri came from the agency's trainee team SM Rookies and arrived just before the group's first EP. As a trainee she had already appeared in the debut single's video.

Red Velvet's Wendy sang the 2018 English duet 'Written in the Stars' with which American singer?

John Legend recorded it with her for SM Station, the label's series of one-off digital singles. The video reached YouTube that October.

Red Velvet's Wendy was cast in 2012 after tagging along to a friend's SM audition in which country?

Canada was where she had moved in fifth grade, and she later sang in the show choir at Richmond Hill High School in Ontario. She had not meant to audition for SM at all.

Sales of which Korean bestseller jumped in 2018 after Red Velvet's Irene said she had read it?

Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 saw sales leap 104% in a week, a surge one newspaper called the 'Irene effect'. She was also harassed online for reading it.

The video for Red Velvet's 2024 single 'Cosmic' was inspired by which 2019 horror film?

Midsommar lent its look to a far sweeter song: a disco-tinged track about a lonely traveller who crash-lands and learns about infinite love.

Which debut single by Red Velvet had its first video pulled over controversial background images?

Happiness drew two million YouTube views in a day before the video was swapped for an edited cut. The images had referred to Hiroshima and the September 11 attacks.

Red Velvet sang Korean verses on a 2019 remix of 'Close to Me' by Diplo and which British singer?

Ellie Goulding's hit swapped Swae Lee's verse for the group's lines in Korean and English. The song went on to win Choice Electronic/Dance Song at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards.

Red Velvet's 2022 single 'Birthday' is built around a sample of which George Gershwin composition?

Rhapsody in Blue runs beneath trap drums and synths in the song. Its video drops each member into a surreal world built from oversized pieces of chocolate and candy.

Which Red Velvet single closed the ReVe Festival trilogy in late 2019 with a gothic-themed video?

Psycho topped Billboard's World Digital Songs chart and gave the group its first entry on a UK chart. The video plays out on a Victorian Gothic set.

Which 2017 Red Velvet summer single did Billboard rank the second-greatest K-pop song of the 2010s?

Red Flavor was also the group's first number one on the Gaon Digital Chart. The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra later adapted it into an orchestral version.

Red Velvet's name signals two sounds: a pop 'red' side and a 'velvet' side rooted in which genre?

R&B with a 1990s flavour drives the smoother 'velvet' releases. The styling splits too: suits for that side, pastel sweaters and doll costumes for the other.

The 'ReVe' in Red Velvet's ReVe Festival albums shortens the group's name and is French for what?

Dream is what the French 'rêve' means, a fit for a festival-themed series that ran to three linked releases in 2019 and returned with two more in 2022.

Red Velvet's Joy and BtoB's Yook Sung-jae won a 2015 Best Couple Award for which MBC variety show?

We Got Married paired the two as a make-believe couple for nearly a year. They also released a duet, 'Young Love', for which Joy earned a songwriting credit.

In 2024 Red Velvet's Seulgi released a song dedicated to Fu Bao, a famous animal of which species?

Giant panda Fu Bao was the first of her kind born naturally in South Korea. The tribute was titled 'You're My Joy and Luck'.

Joy of Red Velvet was born on which South Korean island before being raised in Seoul?

Jeju was her birthplace, though she grew up in the capital's Dobong district as the eldest of three sisters. A vocal coach later gave her the stage name Joy.

Joy of Red Velvet had a 2020 solo hit with 'Introduce Me a Good Person', sung for which tvN drama?

Hospital Playlist took her version to number six on the Gaon Digital Chart, and it was later certified platinum for streaming.

Which first EP by Red Velvet came out in March 2015 with a video shot at a California desert motel?

Ice Cream Cake became the best-selling girl-group album of the first half of 2015 on the Hanteo Chart. Its title track began as a Swedish demo called 'Ice Cream Truck'.

Which Red Velvet single had the only non-English video on Rolling Stone's ten best videos of 2015?

Dumb Dumb also topped Dazed's ranking of the year's K-pop tracks, and Billboard later placed it among the 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Which 2018 summer single earned Red Velvet their first 'perfect all-kill' on South Korea's charts?

Power Up topped every real-time, daily and weekly chart at once. Leader Irene admitted that she had not liked the chip-tune earworm straight away.

Which 2017 Red Velvet single has a horror-style video where the members hunt a pizza delivery boy?

Peek-a-Boo ends with the delivery boy's uniform on display in a glass case. It was the lead single of the group's second studio album, Perfect Velvet.

Red Velvet covered 'Milky Way' in 2020 to mark the twentieth debut anniversary of which SM soloist?

BoA's song doubled as Wendy's first step back into the group, eight months after a stage accident had sidelined her.

Red Velvet's Wendy sang on the 2016 English version of 'Vente Pa' Ca' by which Latin pop star?

Ricky Martin first released the song with Maluma, then issued English versions with two different partners: Wendy and Delta Goodrem.

Red Velvet's Wendy made her theatre debut in 2023 as the wife known only as 'I' in which musical?

Rebecca, adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel, was marking its tenth anniversary on the Korean stage when she joined the cast.

Red Velvet leader Irene co-hosted a weekly KBS music show from 2015 to 2016 alongside which actor?

Park Bo-gum and Irene drew attention for their chemistry, and the press called them one of the best partnerships in the programme's history.

Which 2021 EP made Wendy the first member of Red Velvet to debut as a soloist?

Like Water likens a person's life to water flowing like fate and thanks the people who stood by her. It includes 'Best Friend', a duet with Seulgi.

Red Velvet's Seulgi and Wendy debuted in 2022 in which SM supergroup with Taeyeon and Hyoyeon?

Got the Beat launched with the single 'Step Back' as the first unit of Girls On Top, a project that gathers seven of the agency's female artists.

Red Velvet's Joy starred in the 2018 MBC drama Tempted, loosely based on which French novel?

Dangerous Liaisons, 'Les Liaisons dangereuses' in French, gave her a second leading role. She sang 'OMG!' for the soundtrack and was nominated for Best Actress at the MBC Drama Awards.

Red Velvet's 2014 debut stage came on which weekly TV show, later the scene of their first win?

Music Bank handed them that first trophy in March 2015, seven months after their debut on the same show, during promotions for their breakthrough EP.

Red Velvet's first reality series, Level Up Project, followed a 2017 group trip to which country?

Thailand filled a 23-episode first season, filmed with only four members because Joy was busy shooting her first drama.

Which name did Red Velvet give their first solo concerts, staged in Seoul in August 2017?

Red Room drew 11,000 fans, and demand was strong enough that a third night was added to the planned two. The show later travelled to Japan.

Red Velvet's second single, 'Be Natural', covered a 2000 song by which trio, SM's first girl group?

S.E.S. first released it on the album A Letter from Greenland. The cover gave fans a first look at the suited, more mature 'velvet' image.

Which future NCT leader, then a trainee, rapped on Red Velvet's 2014 single 'Be Natural'?

Taeyong was still in the pre-debut team SM Rookies when he added the verse. The single was also the last the group released as a four-piece.

Red Velvet's debut single was co-produced by Chad Hugo, one half of which American production duo?

The Neptunes pair Hugo with Pharrell Williams. Their unlikely K-pop credit mixes Europop synths with African tribal drums.

Which swimming-themed Red Velvet single won Song of the Year at the 2019 Asia Artist Awards?

Umpah Umpah borrows its title from the sound of breath control in the pool, as if an admirer were learning to swim. It also topped Billboard's K-pop Hot 100.

Which 2019 Red Velvet single did its composers say drew on Girls' Generation's 'I Got a Boy'?

Zimzalabim had waited years for its moment: it was weighed as a lead single back in 2016, and SM's founder held it until he felt the group could pull it off.

Which July 2018 EP was Red Velvet's Japanese debut, reaching number three on Oricon's albums chart?

#Cookie Jar paired new songs with Japanese versions of three earlier Korean hits. The group had toured six Japanese cities in the two months before it came out.

Red Velvet's Wendy was badly injured in a fall while rehearsing for which 2019 year-end TV show?

SBS Gayo Daejeon was in rehearsal on Christmas Day when she fell about 2.5 metres. She was discharged two months later and returned to live performance on January 1, 2021.

Which team, Grammy winners for Bruno Mars's 'That's What I Like', co-wrote Red Velvet's 'Bad Boy'?

The Stereotypes teased a 'really cool' project with the group two weeks before the release. Billboard went on to name the song the best K-pop track of 2018.

Red Velvet's 'One of These Nights' draws on the parted-lovers tale behind which Korean festival?

Chilseok falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the one night a year the weaver and the herder of the tale may meet. The song's Korean title is simply 'July 7'.

Red Velvet promoted 'Rookie' in 2017 by headlining K-Pop Night Out at which American festival?

South by Southwest, or SXSW, staged the showcase at The Belmont in Austin, Texas, before more than 2,500 spectators. The group appeared at KCON Mexico the next day.

Red Velvet sang 'See the Stars' for which 2019 tvN drama starring Lee Ji-eun and Yeo Jin-goo?

Hotel del Luna casts Lee as the owner, and Yeo as the manager, of an inn that caters only to ghosts. The group's song came out that August as part eight of its soundtrack.

Which 2023 album was Red Velvet's first Korean studio album in six years?

Chill Kill was first announced under the longer title 'What a Chill Kill' and trimmed five days later. Its ten tracks include a lead single of the same name.

Red Velvet's Seulgi featured on 'Hello Tutorial', a number-two hit in 2018 for which Korean singer?

Zion.T took the duet to number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. Weeks earlier she had teamed with Soyeon, SinB and Chungha on the single 'Wow Thing'.

The video for Red Velvet's 'RBB (Really Bad Boy)' restages the Grady twins from which 1980 film?

The Shining's twins are recreated by two of the members. The 'bad boy' of the title is a werewolf who chases the group through Halloween-themed sets.

Red Velvet leader Irene grew up in which South Korean city, where she attended Haknam High School?

Daegu's Buk-gu district was her childhood home. She was cast by SM in 2009 and trained for five years before the group's debut.

Wendy, Seulgi and Joy of Red Velvet have each competed under an alias on which TV singing contest?

King of Mask Singer hid them behind stage names such as Space Beauty Maetel, Cinema Heaven and Bandabi. Wendy went back for a second run as Green Witch.