Dumb Dumb

Following the release of their first EP Ice Cream Cake in March 2015, it was reported that Red Velvet would return with their first full-length studio album in early September 2015. On September 3, a series of image teasers were revealed on the group's official Instagram account, along with the album's ten-song track list. A day later, S.M. Entertainment announced that the full album would be released at midnight on September 9, with "Dumb Dumb" serving as the album's lead single.[1]

Prior to the release of the music video, a total of 5 video teasers were released on the official SMTOWN channel from September 3 to September 7. The official video for "Dumb Dumb" was then released on September 9, before being released digitally with its parent album a day later.

"Dumb Dumb" was composed by British production team LDN Noise, Deanna Dellacioppa, Taylor Parks and South Korean songwriter Ryan S. Jhun. LDN Noise had previously worked with Western artists such as Nick Jonas and Nathan Sykes and although the duo had produced for other South Korean groups such as Red Velvet's label mates TVXQ and SHINee, The Red, in which they produced four tracks including "Dumb Dumb", marks Bonnick and Chapman's first time collaborating with the group. Described as a "brassy" and "genre-mashing" dance-pop track with R&B, funk and hip-hop elements, the song contains heavy hi-hats and snare line, percussive claps and horn instruments. It was composed in the key of C Dorian mode, with a tempo of 146 beat-per-minute.[2]

Its lyrics, which were written by Kim Dong-hyun and Seo Ji-eum of Jam Factory, are the thoughts of a girl who compares her awkwardness in front of a romantic interest to becoming a mannequin.[3] The song's title is repeated several times throughout the song and features a rap verse that contain several song references from Michael Jackson's discography, including "Beat It", "Bad", "Billie Jean", "Leave Me Alone", "Black or White", "Man in the Mirror", "Why You Wanna Trip On Me", "Scream", "Love Never Felt So Good" and "Thriller".[4] A Japanese version of the song was recorded for the group's first Japan showcase, making "Dumb Dumb" their second song to be recorded in another language, following their 2017 release "Red Flavor".[5]

Upon its initial release, "Dumb Dumb" received positive reviews from music critics who complimented the song's production and quirky vibe, while noting the group's "well-blended" vocal performance. Jeff Benjamin of Billboard called it an "undefined-yet-addictive slab of brassy pop" and drew comparisons to Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj's 2014 hit "Bang Bang", but clarified that it "is pulled every which way that it hardly resembles such a catered-to-Top-40 hit".[3] Dazed Digital named it their number one K-pop track of 2015 and stated that the song "marked a monumental, career-crowning musical tornado".[13] Noisey put it at number two on their Top 20 K-pop Songs of 2015 and praised it for its "endless momentum—sustained across a Michael Jackson tribute rap break, a blindside bridge borrowed from some other sonic world, and a chorus that interrupts itself to laugh at all the awesomeness everywhere". They also highlighted the song's video and choreography.[14] Writing for Yibada, Romellaine Xyene Arsenio commended the members' impressive vocal improvement and thought the "challenging notes and raps were delivered smoothly". She deemed it "their most bizarre comeback yet" but spoke highly of the visuals and styling in the music video.[15] However, Kim Do-young of the South Korean online magazine IZM found the song "confusing" and the vocals of the group "distracting" in his review of the album. In a survey conducted in November 2017 among men in their 20s and 50s, "Dumb Dumb" ranked 4th in the list of songs that should be banned for the College Scholastic Ability Test in South Korea due to their addictive nature.[16]

"Dumb Dumb" was included in Billboard's list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time, ranking at number 70.[17] Rolling Stone placed it a number nine on their 10 Best Music Videos of 2015[8] and was named "Choreography of the Year" by GQ Korea in their November 2015 issue.[18] The song also placed fourth on the top 25 Red Velvet songs by critics on Billboard.[19]

Upon its digital release, "Dumb Dumb" quickly topped 7 Korean digital charts amidst heavy competition.[26] The song then debuted and peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart on the week of September 6, 2015, marking their third top-five entry and the group's highest peak on the chart at the time. It was their first chart-topper on the component Download Chart, having achieved a total of 175,127 downloads on the first week.[27][28] The song eventually became the group's first single to achieve over a million downloads in South Korea and currently one of the group's most downloaded hits in their native country, having achieved a total of 1,611,205 downloads as of July 2016. "Dumb Dumb" ended up being the 77th biggest hit on the 2015 Year-end Gaon Digital Chart, marking their second appearance along with their previous single "Ice Cream Cake" placing at number 46. It also peaked at number three on Billboard's World Digital Songs chart, making it the best-selling K-pop song in America of the week and the group's fifth consecutive top-ten entry on the chart.[29] The song has since achieved 26,000 downloads in the United States, becoming their second most-downloaded song after "Bad Boy".[30]

The music video for "Dumb Dumb" debuted at #1 on YinYueTai's V-Chart Korea[31] and was also the most viewed K-pop video in America and worldwide for the month of September.[32]

As part of their year-end award promotions, three remixes were produced for the group's performance at the Seoul Music Awards, the KBS 2015 Song Festival and the Golden Disk Awards on January 2016. While these mixes maintain most of the song's original production, the rap verse by member Irene and Joy was omitted in favor of an additional dance-break mix for the performances on Song Festival and Golden Disk Awards.[33] In 2017, S.M. Entertainment's partnership with Mystic Entertainment resulted in a digital music project involving Red Velvet, Henry Lau and Mystic Entertainment's artists, wherein both companies' singers did a remake of each other's songs. PERC%NT, Jang Jane, Giant Pink and K JUN's R&B cover of the single was released on August 18, 2017 along with a music video.[34][35]