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[Red Velvet - Rookie] Album Review

Hi! It’s time for album reviews again. This time I’m listening to Red Velvet’s 4th mini album, Rookie. So without further ado, here’s what I think of each track.

Rookie  Okay I’m going to be perfectly honest. The first few listens, as in, the first 4 times, I actually thought the song was okay. The hook is pretty weak but all the other sections are strong enough to carry the song as a whole. I liked everything except the hook.  

Little Little Dat heavenly harp intro. I like the this song! I have found my favorite track in this entire album. I specially like the subtle little pizzicato runs with the violin. And the harmonization is amazing! As expected of Red Velvet. 

Happily Ever After I was taken by surprised with this one. It has the same feel as Dumb Dumb because of the claps. It also has those arcade sounds again. So many things are going on here. 

Talk to Me By this time I don’t know what to expect anymore. You just can’t exactly predict what Red Velvet is going to do next. I thought I’ve heard it all, and then here they come with this weird backwards vocals that haven’t been used in quite a while now. There are also these spacey sci fi sounds in the background. Red Velvet is the Epitome of Weird. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if someone’s going to backmask this track and come up with some strange conspiracy theory.

Body Talk This song reminds me of two artists who are OG weirdos: Enya and Bjork.  The Chord progression reminds me of an Enya song. Bjork came to mind when I heard the synth flavor. 

Last Love I’m really not a fan of ballads. The intro reminds of one of those cheezy Tagalog ballads (I’m Filipino btw) from the 90s. I blame Tagalog ballads for my distaste for all ballad songs in general because there was a time back in the 90′s when Ballads were playing everywhere in the Philippines and I remember being so annoyed as a kid and promising never to listen to ballads ever again. lol Not saying this song is cheezy or full of emotional baggage, but I can’t help but remember how annoyed I was that there was nowhere I could hide from the ballad pandemic. Our neighbors would blast them all day long and I was really angry. I probably need to see a shrink about this. lol I’m sorry, Red Velvet! 

Favorite Track:  Little Little Why? Because this one touched my stone cold heart. And it’s not as weird as the others and doesn’t remind me of an angry phase in my childhood. haha!  Memorable line: The wind blows past my cheeks My heart churns because of you It keeps softly blowing You shake up my world

Final thoughts:

Grade: 5/10

Overall, this album is okay. I am not completely blown away in a grand scale, but I appreciate what this album is trying to say. Just like the title track, the rest of the songs are an acquired taste. I really like how Red Velvet is not afraid to deviate from the norms and formulas that are proven to work to make their own sound. The R in Red Velvet stands for Risk. And that is the reason why I am a fan. 

No one ever  made it big from following the status quo. 

#red velvet #rookie #album review #kpop #khukei