Psycho (Red Velvet song)

Following the group's third concert, La Rouge, in November 2019, SM Entertainment revealed two different teaser posters on social media at midnight of that year's December 12, along with an official press release which confirmed that Finale would conclude Red Velvet's "music festival" trilogy throughout 2019.[1] Two days later, the first batch of teaser photos were posted on the group's official social media accounts, including "Psycho" as the lead single for this release. The instrumental intro of the song was also revealed through their official Instagram posts before a 17-second video teaser for the song was uploaded to the official SM Town YouTube channel, with the music video being released the following day.[2]

"Psycho" was written by American record producer Andrew Scott, Korean producer EJAE, and frequent Swedish collaborator Cazzi Opeia during their 2018 songwriting camp in Seoul, South Korea. Following a conversation between the three composers about a breakup where "being heartbroken is almost like feeling psycho", they started working on the idea to come up with the song.[3] Having acknowledged Red Velvet's duality sonic concept, which are "Red" referring to the group's mild and vibrant prep image, and "Velvet" referring to their smooth and R&B sides,[4] Scott wanted to "blend the two" concepts together. With the demo version recorded in English by Opeia that eventually leaked on the Internet weeks before the song's release, the lyrics were then rewritten in Korean by songwriter Kenzie, with additional arrangement from producer Druski, and Yoo Young-jin, the latter of which co-produced the group's previous single "Bad Boy" in 2018.[5]

Musically, "Psycho" was described as an up-tempo urban song, while being characterized by Tamar Herman of Billboard as an R&B-pop track with future bass, "grandiose operatic" instrumental intro with "dramatic" pizzicato strings, "classical" chords and trap beats, squelching synths, which made the song the group's seventh single to fall under the "Velvet" concept.[3][6] According to Scott, the chorus contains the syncopation of hi-hats, which is combined with the drum line to maintain the song's pace. It was composed in the key of Eb major with a tempo of 140 beats per minute.[7] The group's vocals span two octaves, from the low note of G3 to the high-note of G5. A slightly different version of the song was used for the music video, with the chorus having an additional synth line and the pre-chorus including a string melody, while the digital and streaming version omitted these elements. Lyrically, the song tells the story of a relationship "full of ups and downs", where a couple "fights so much that they appear crazy in the eyes of others but are nonetheless meant for each other" and eventually assures that "we're gonna be alright".[8]

In the final week of December 2019, the song made its debut at number two on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, being held of the top by rapper Changmo's "Meteor" for three consecutive weeks. The song went on to peak at number three on the January issue of the Gaon Monthly Digital Chart.[9] In addition, it topped the Gaon Download Chart for two weeks, giving the group their sixth chart-topper on the chart, while peaking at number two for two weeks on the component Streaming Chart. The song also debuted at number nine on the Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 chart for the issue date of December 28, 2019.[10]

On the week of January 4, 2020, "Psycho" debuted atop the US Billboard World Digital Songs Chart, giving Red Velvet their second chart-topper, following their 2018 single "RBB (Really Bad Boy)". This made them one of the nine K-pop artists to top the chart more than once, and the fourth girl group to do this.[11] Moreover, "Psycho" became their 16th top 10 entry, thus tying with the record of 2NE1 as the South Korean girl groups having the most top-ten entries on the chart. In addition, the song became Red Velvet's second entry on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart after "Zimzalabim", entering at number 10 for the week of December 30, 2019.[12] It also debuted at number 99 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart for one week, becoming their first song to appear on a UK component chart.[13]

The group delivered their first live performance of "Psycho" at the ReVe Festival FINALE Party on December 22, 2019, which premiered exclusively on V Live with a limited participation for their fandom.[14] Red Velvet were then confirmed to attend the annual SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 25 of that year, scheduled to perform the single for the first time on television.[15] As fellow member Wendy suffered injuries during rehearsal, a pre-recorded performance was aired instead, which eventually led to the group having to perform as a quartet for their next attendance.[16] The remaining four members eventually covered all Wendy's singing parts for their live performance at the 29th Seoul Music Awards on January 30, 2020, where Red Velvet also won their fifth consecutive Main Award (Bonsang).[17]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
IZM[18]

Following its initial release, "Psycho" was met with positive reviews from music critics. Tamar Herman of Billboard magazine viewed the track as "smooth and sultry in its delivery".[8] In an individual song review, writer Kim Do-hyun of IZM viewed the track as "an upgraded version" of "Bad Boy", praising the balance coming from "a great melody, interesting themes and performance" that crafted "a good song", while rating the track with three stars and a half out of five.[18] Moreover, writer Natalie Morin from Refinery29 praised the song's "updated, sophisticated glow" from its charm and swagger.[19] In a late interview with the song's producer in February 2020, writer Yim Hyun-su of The Korea Herald described the song as a "catchy earworm" and said Red Velvet "shows no signs of stopping anytime soon".[3]

Despite being a "year-end" release, "Psycho" appeared in several publication's year-end lists, being cited as one of the best K-pop releases in 2019. Billboard magazine ranked the song at number 18 on their list, praising its "musical decorum" often missing from pop songs.[20] Malaysian L'Officiel magazine chose the song as one of their 14 K-Pop songs which defines 2019, citing it as a "go-to track to sing in the shower".[21] The song was featured on Paper's 'The 40 Best K-Pop Songs of 2020' at number one, stating that "Psycho" at the tail end of 2019, there was no way of knowing just what the new year would bring".[22] Furthermore, Whole Tone online magazine described the song as "the track that has created the most impressive spot among K-pop works released over the past year," ranking it number one on their list.[23]

Despite Red Velvet not attending nor performing at any television music show, "Psycho" managed to achieve a total of nine music show trophies by January 2020. Not only did the song become the group's second most-winning title track, tying with their 2017 single "Rookie", it was also their first to achieve the triple-crown status on all three national channels, namely Music Bank, Show! Music Core and Inkigayo.[27][28][29] The song also achieved two consecutive Melon Weekly Popularity Awards.[30]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The ReVe Festival: Finale.[48]

• Red Velvet (Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy, Yeri) – vocals, background vocals
• Kenzie – Korean songwriter, vocal director
• Andrew Scott – original writer, producer, programming, vocal production
• Moa Anna Carlebecker Forsell – original writer, background vocals
• EJAE – original writer, background vocals
• Druski – arrangement
• Yoo Young-jin – arrangement
• No Min-ji (SM SSAM Studio) – record director
• Jung Yu-ra – digital editor
• Lee Ji-hong (SM Lyvin Studio) – mix engineer
• Nam Goong-jin (SM Concert Studio Hall) – mixing engineer
• SKRT – mastering engineer

• List of number-one songs of 2020 (Singapore)
• List of Music Bank Chart Winners (2020)
• List of Show! Music Core Chart winners (2020)
• List of Inkigayo Chart winners (2020)