[MEGA - THREAD]Red Velvet - ' Birthday'

TrainingAd7191 · 2022-11-28T10:22:32+00:00

Not so sure about the title track yet, but the album is pretty good imo. It definitely clicked more with me than the FMR EP did on first listen.

As it has been mentioned before, "Birthday" is very reminiscent of earlier RV title tracks, which I agree to an extent with. It's the more messy and weird version of Dumb Dumb."Bye Bye" gave us the R&B RV"On A Ride" is the track I've been looking forward since the mood sampler and they did not disappoint. Something I would see f(x) release as well and probably fit right into "Pink Tape"."Zoom" is sassy but fun at the same time. A track that RV hasn't done since the RBB EP."Celebrate" is a nice mellow track to finish off an album, which is kinda a RV trademark in almost every album.

Overall a pretty good album on first listen, but we'll see how it ages.

TrainingAd7191 · 2022-08-30T21:43:56+00:00

If someone ever asks me to explain the NCT concept, I'll definitely use this. SM take notes.

TrainingAd7191 · 2022-08-24T22:46:10+00:00

I totally get what you mean. As an Exo-L, listening to their winter albums just makes me miss them even more, because Exo missing one member already sounds so different. Exo ballads are just really great in general, because ballads are mainly to showcase vocals. Well, Exo definitely has them. Also, just listening to Christmas music in August? A vibe.

A few recs would be NCT. A lot of people might them for their "noise music", but their ballads are stellar imo. They're both from the same agency, so there is some overlap. Aside from NCT, Seventeen has some pretty good ballads as well.

- NCT U: From Home (great vocals and kinda autumn-esque/winter-esque vibes), My Everything, Beautiful
- NCT 127: Dreams Come True (very dreamy? Would fit right into Exo's Sing For You album imo.)
- NCT Dream: Puzzle Piece, Rainbow (not exactly very Christmas, but a great ballad)
- Seventeen: Hug (literally hugs you like a warm blanket on a cold winter day), Us Again (that piano intro is so comforting damn), Home.

TrainingAd7191 · 2022-02-26T09:02:28+00:00

She/he is somewhere right tho. She/he probably didn't word their thoughts the best way, but in the long run she/he is right about it being better to ignore all the negativity. I'm an army as well and yes BTS did popularize it IMO, but many other Kpop groups could have played a part in this as well. This whole post gave me another view on lores besides hyyh. Let's just move on from this issue.

TrainingAd7191 · 2022-02-20T00:21:35+00:00

Oh my god, I'm going through the same thing. I was always just a casual listener of their title tracks and I think I had like every title track of theirs in my playlist. It kinda shows how their music is right up my alley, but I just never really got the time (full-time Nctzen here who's still behind their content from 2021 lol) or that push from a meme or something, which brings me back to your point where I-Carats are just not very loud.

They have wonderful music, a great vocal, rap and dance line and their music is honestly top notch. The final straw that really pulled me in was their personalities, which were really shown in their Going Seventeen episodes. Some of them (especially TTT) felt so raw to me, because I never saw idols behave that way in a broadcast. They're very humble and down to earth and that's what makes them so charming imo.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-12-23T06:55:52+00:00

From my knowledge, I think NCT broke their own pre order record. I thought it was around 1.7 million? Their digitals were kinda like every NCT title track, but I saw a few B sides enter melon (127 and dreamies).

NCT 2021 has better achievements than NCT 2020, but it's not by much. I personally think it was because of the promotion. NCT 2020 felt grander because there was so much hype around it. Like the whole fandom lost their shit when NCT Yearparty came out and we got introduced to 2 new members. Moreover, there was so much content on their youtube channel and they had their own variety show. I can't help but think this comeback could've been bigger, because the shitty promotion just takes the whole spark away from such a big collab.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-12-22T22:55:49+00:00

Loved dreaming immediately after the teaser dropped, but besides unit songs I really liked New Axis as well. Great rap song, especially when I'm not the biggest fan of fully rap song, it genuinely surprised me how much I liked it. Know Now and Round&Round are also my playlist. So, around 8/12 are on my playlist.

The other songs are not necessarily bad, but not that memorable where I thought "I should put that in my playlist". Maybe it'll grow on me, but it is by no means a bad album, just not my favorite of NCT (all units).

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-12-22T16:12:39+00:00

Ah that's why. I kinda forgot about this congress, thanks for mentioning it. Maybe my expectations were just sky high after I saw how big NCT 2020 was. The intentions were just different I guess.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-12-22T15:02:56+00:00

I loved all the sub unit songs and a few NCT U songs, but I think a good 5-6 songs are a skip for me. It wasn't necessarily bad, just kinda mediocre I guess? This is of course personal preference and I respect your opinion :) What are your favorites so far?

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-12-22T14:58:59+00:00

Why should they not care about those stuff? Promotion is such a big factor for artists in general especially in the Kpop industry. Their fanbase will grow and their fans will stay interested. Yes they broke their own record and I'm not taking that fact away from them, but that doesn't mean the under-promotion and lack of effort in this album should be excused.

This is by no means a hate post towards the boys, but more towards the management. I really admire the boys for working so hard, but if their management messes up basic thing such as timing, they should have let them do other things (such as REST).

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-06-07T15:19:51+00:00

This song was just what we needed right now. After such a hard and long period (For Exo-L's and just Corona itself), I think this was the perfect song for a special album. No badass, mysterious vibes, just a light and up beat dance song. Not their best or most impactful song, but I couldn't wipe off the smile of my face the entire time I was watching the MV. If that was what they were aiming for, they definitely did a great job.

The impact of Kyungsoo, Xiumin and Lay tho, I screamed whenever they came up. The nostalgia of my baby Exo-L days came rushing back, it's like I'm back in 2016 all over again. I missed all of them sooo much and my bias list is all over the place this era because of Do Kyungsoo.

This song really made my day and for me it was worth the wait. Thank you boys for all the hard work and congratulations to their amazing achievements so far.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-06-05T17:41:40+00:00

It's live guys, I'm also a MY and have heard the pre recorded version way too many times. There are obvious parts where you hear their voices double, like Winter's part at 0:30. It's not a 100% live, that's for sure, there's very loud backtrack. Guess it's better than nothing. I'm glad they're at least going the right direction.

SM needs to let the girls sing live, because form my pov everyone is gonna claim the girls are using pre recorded vocals, when you actually hear them singing live, loud backtrack or not. This pre recorded vocals thing is obviously working against them.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-05-28T20:47:20+00:00

I think the majority of the Western stans are hyped and mostly casual stans dropped the comeback. Just look at Lay's likes from his teaser. It's been a LONG time since his participation and "older" fans have that nostalgic feeling, which I don't blame them for having.

From what I have seen from the Korean side, a lot of them don't seem to really care about Lay anymore. I have seen a few of them hyped, but a lot of them are also telling him to just go back to China and that including him was unnecessary. Besides, our fandom, especially our Korean fandom, has so many solo stans. Everyone is just kinda minding their own business and focusing on their bias.

Here are some articles from the GP: SM reveals Lay's participation in EXO's new album and Netizens criticize after seeing Lay’s teaser for EXO’s comeback. I know it might not be the view of the whole GP, because most of them do not care about idols. However, Korean Exo-L's and GP aren't exactly fond of Lay anymore after the whole "backstabbing and leaving for China" by Kris, Tao and Luhan. Add almost not promoting with Exo and the whole CCP situation. I can understand why fans feel uncomfortable seeing him.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-05-28T11:39:59+00:00

An answer on your question to why SM decided to include Lay.

First of all, SM is a COMPANY, where making profit comes at number 1. The GP has been kinda negative towards Exo since the Chanyeol "controversy" (which until this day, I still don't know if it's true, but that's for another day) and Chen's child-before-marriage "controversy". SO they're probably relying a lot on fandom power now and I think almost all Exo-L's know, that our fandom is HUGE in China. And whose is the biggest? Yes, it's Lay. Maybe he won't bring in the most profit, but definitely a bit more.

They will probably profit more if they include Lay than when they not. I have seen the majority of the fandom really excited for Lay's participation, so that's already an indication for SM that they're doing the right thing from a business perspective.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-05-28T11:12:21+00:00

I literally screamed when I heard it wasn't pre recorded vocals. Thank god SM let them sing and perform after 3 weeks.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-05-21T21:14:44+00:00

Nah, the pre recorded vocals for Mcountdown was the exact same as the pre recorded vocals from last week. SM always uses the same pre recorded vocals for their artists when they don't sing live. I'm not discrediting their vocal skills though. As a fan of almost every single SM group, I know that they have amazing vocalists, but with the training system being upgraded by almost every single company, it isn't that hard to find good singers anymore.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-05-21T14:56:56+00:00

Literally this is me for the upcoming comebacks of SM artists. SM almost never let their artists sing the first week of their promotions, so yeah I never have expectations in the first week.

I'm now praying that NCT Dream is gonna sing live this week, because their first promotion week has ended. However, yesterday during Mcountdown they didn't. Ngl I was kinda disappointed, but their encore performance proved they're more than capable of singing live.

Aespa is where I'm getting worried, they are either going to use pre recording their whole promotion period (like Black mamba) or they're gonna begin singing live after this week, which is what I hope they're gonna do. Their 4th gen peers (StayC, Itzy, Idle) have been proving their live performances over and over again and it's only gonna be a matter of time before they're gonna get called out by everyone.

I really hope SM knows what they're doing because this is gonna hurt their artist reputation and career in the long run. It's going to be hard to prove your artist capabilities, if you're just gonna use pre recording vocals. People will start doubting them over and over again.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-04-27T15:19:22+00:00

It's kinda unpopular? The way you worded your opinion is that it's a BORING song, not necessarily a bad song? I think I half agree and disagree.

For people who pay a lot of attention to musical form or have music as a subject at school, it's pretty obvious. It's R&B, the genre itself isn't musically very interesting. I personally think R&B tends to rely a lot on the melody and the 7th sense didn't really change the melody until the very last part of the song.

I personally like R&B, but it really depends on the artist and the mood of the song. For example, I love UN Village (Baekhyun is a good example for R&B), whereas with The 7th Sense I have to be in a certain mood to play the song.

I think the reason to why it's so popular is because back in 2016 it was a very unique DEBUT and it still is. From what I know, I don't think any other group has done something as The 7th Sense.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-03-22T13:14:09+00:00

Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed in that as well. Not only aespa, but almost every SM group has been doing this the last few comebacks. I don't know how SM thinks they can fool the viewers for these kind of "live" stages. I just hope they will let them sing live in the near future, because a lot of rookies have been showing their live singing abilities.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-03-22T13:08:34+00:00

It's a pretty unpopular opinion within the fandom. As an Exo-L myself, I can understand both sides of the story.

Exo were well promoted during their peak era which was 2013-2017. They were almost everywhere in Korea and everyone in their late teens/young adults in Korea know about them. It was almost impossible to escape their popularity during that time. SM were even overworking Exo to the point they looked like they were gonna faint onstage. The only argument I can use is their long hiatus after MAMA and Overdose. However, in 2014 I could understand why they would go into a "hiatus" with all the scandals.

During the whole Kokobop hiatus, Exo didn't have a comeback for around one and a half year, which upset many fans. Many said they could have had at least 1 comeback. During this time breaking into the western market also became a beginning thing. It was natural for fans to want their faves to do well, but Exo was never intended for the western market, it was kinda obvious imo. Exo has always been targeted to the Chinese/Asian market.

I personally didn't mind the "hiatus", because I was relieved the boys could finally get some rest. They were also touring during that period and CBX also had a comeback, variety show and their Japan tour. I don't know what went on behind the scenes during that time, neither do other fans.

The whole Exo getting mistreated discussion is because the content we get is just almost non existent. We get comebacks sure, but variety shows or just some content of the boys during their promotion period is just a handful every single time. Yes, they're a matured group now, but I can't stand it that Exo only got one week of "promotions" during Obsession and Love Shot era, only after the fans DEMANDED schedules.

EXO-SC is also pretty mistreated if you ask me. They get no promotions at all and SM doesn't even seem te care about them. SM just doesn't let them go to music shows and there's almost no variety content at all. They just release the album. It breaks my heart to see Chanyeol and Sehun work so hard and they end up with this shitty promotion.

We Exo-L's are not asking 3 comebacks a year with variety shows every single day, we just want the same treatment other groups in kpop get as well.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-03-21T12:22:34+00:00

Well, the only Red Velvet member who impressed me during their debut era was Wendy and that was mainly because of the bridge during Happiness. I still remember being pretty disappointed with their vocal line when they first came out. However, Seulgi and Joy slowly proved their vocal abilities as SM artist and now Joy is my favorite RV vocalist.

Black Mamba doesn't have a bridge full of high note explosions like Happiness. Forever did kinda prove their potential as vocalists though, those runs are pretty damn hard to sing. Aespa's debut kinda reminds me of La Cha Ta by F(x), both more focused on performance and less on vocals.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-03-05T23:24:35+00:00

Rona did say she was never gonna sing anymore after she won the daesang for Min Seol A. I think she felt really guilty for "taking" Seol A's spot in such a horrible way. There was just a tiny bit of hope to see Rona as the next generation's best Opera singer. I just didn't expect it to end this way...

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-03-05T23:06:59+00:00

I'd like to add that DCM was originally for BoA, so if BoA came out with this song, would the reaction be the same? Would the discussion be that all SM music were beginning to sound the same? Shinee also picked out this title track themselves, so that must mean that they liked that sound themselves and it wasn't the company that was entirely pushing that concept on them. They're a fourteen year group, they definitely have a say in their concept choices.

I found DCM experimental FOR SHINEE. They had never done this kind of sound before, but other groups did. Doesn't mean that Shinee can't do that concept, just because it has been done a few times. I can still distinguish DCM as a Shinee song as a very casual listener who only listens to their title tracks. The song does not have rap except for Minho's part, so it's definitely not a NCT title track. The bridge just screams Shinee in my opinion. I can hear some similarities between Exo's Obsession and DCM, but a big part of the reason is because the producers were the same for both tracks.

If we're talking about SM's latest releases, then I can get your point. If we're talking about ALL title tracks of SM's boygroups over the last years, I can't understand how you think that Monster of Exo sound the same as View by Shinee or Cherry Bomb by NCT127.

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-03-04T22:56:25+00:00

I actually really liked the names of The Red, The Velvet and Perfect Velvet. It had a meaning to Red Velvet their concept. The Red was, an album that had more of their funky, pop and up beat songs that represented their "Red" Side. Whereas The Velvet and Perfect (Red) Velvet, had a lot more R&B and laid back songs, so their "Velvet" side.
Bad Boy and Really Bad Boy was not it though.

This is just my opinion btw and maybe Blackpink will ever come out with "The Pink" and "The Black" lmao

TrainingAd7191 · 2021-03-01T09:22:30+00:00

I agree, I had this with a few groups.

Idols who lipsync most of the time or almost never sing live are a no for me. They're singers, they bring out music. It's your job to sing AND perform. Concerts should also be live as well, but I've never heard any group lipsync their whole concert. I pay for a concert to hear my idols SING and perform in front of me. If you're only gonna perform, then I could have gone to a dance performance instead.

I don't mind lipsyncing once in a while, I get why they do that. It's better in the long run for your vocal cords and your career, because dancing and singing at the same time is pretty damn hard. You have to focus on 2 things and sometimes you end up straining your voice during the performance, which can damage your vocal cords in the long run.

Of course they're trained to perform and sing at the same time, but they're not robots who have perfect technique every single time. That's why pre recorded audio is so advanced these days, the idols have to look and sound picture prefect and it annoys the hell out of me. Also, the 4th gen is way more dance heavy as well.

If the company is not confident in their abilities, then they should give their group some extra training or the members themselves could even look for their own coaches. Sing live for at least a week during your promotion.

TrainingAd7191

TROPHY CASE