Red Flavor

After concluding music show promotion for their fourth extended play Rookie in February, Red Velvet released the digital single "Would U" as the first release for the second season of the label project SM Station.[1] It was the group's first single as a quarter in years due to member Joy's filming schedule for her first drama The Liar and His Lover, in which she was starring as the female lead.[2] Through news outlet and the label's official press announcement on June 23, 2017, the group was reported to release their first "summer special" extended play and had recently finished filming a music video.[3] It eventually became the group's second comeback within a calendar year, which was later extended to a total of three times with the release of their second studio album in later November. On June 30, the first batch of teaser photos were posted on the group's official social media accounts. The album title and the full tracklist which included "Red Flavor" was revealed on the same day.[4] On July 7, a 19-second video teaser for "Red Flavor" was uploaded on the official SMTOWN channel, with the official video being released two days later.[5] The song had its official digital release on July 9, 2017, along with the extended play.

"Red Flavor" was produced by Daniel Caesar and Ludwig Lindell who had previously worked with several South Korean artists under the name 'Caesar & Loui'. In an interview with Tone Glow, the duo revealed that it had originally been written for the British girl group Little Mix with the title "Dance With Nobody". After deciding that the song could also work for the K-pop market, they recorded the demo with vocals by Ylva Dimberg whose voice is still heard in the background vocals in the pre-chorus. A distorted voice singing the lyrics "Red Flavor" featured in the song was done by Lindell himself.[7] Its lyrics, which was written by long-time S.M. songwriter Kenzie, focuses on the theme of a young girl being in a summer love while using fruits as references.

Musically, Tamar Herman of Billboard characterized it as an electropop song with "dramatic synths and a percussive melody", which labeled the song as their fifth single to follow the "Red" concept. It was composed in the key of A major with a tempo of 125 beat-per-minute.[6][8][9] In addition, Chase McMullen of The 405 noted that the song includes a "clap-along groove" and horn-like instrument throughout, thus giving it a funky summer vibe.[10] Two remixes of the song were performed since then with the first remix by producer Hitchhiker, containing more tribal drums instead of the original percussive drum line in the chorus production. It was performed live for the first time by the girl group during their 2017 live performance at the Mnet Music Asian Awards.[11] The second remix contained an anthemic EDM-breakdown after the final chorus, and was performed regularly by the group during their concerts and live performances since 2018.[12] Initially released in Korean, a Japanese version of the song was performed at the group's first Japan showcase on November 6, 2017. The Japanese version of "Red Flavor" was then included in the group's first Japanese release #Cookie Jar.[13]

Within the first 24 hours after its release, "Red Flavor" quickly topped 7 Korean digital charts and 8 other countries' iTunes digital chart.[14] On the third week of July 2017, the song debuted atop the Gaon Digital Chart for one week, giving the group their first Gaon Digital Chart number one title since their debut in August 2014. It was also the group's second chart-topper on the component Gaon Download Chart with 291,643 downloads, scoring the group's best selling record in the first week while reaching number two on the Gaon Streaming Chart for four consecutive weeks.[15][16] Following its appearance at number twenty on the 2017's Gaon Year-End Digital Chart, "Red Flavor" became Red Velvet's longest-charting entry to date, having spent a total of 64 consecutive weeks within the top 100 of the Digital Chart while re-appearing for 16 weeks on the lower half of the new top 200 as of September 2019.[17][18] The song also debuted at number two on the Billboard Kpop Hot 100, making it their first top-five entry.[19] As of September 2018, the song has sold over 2,500,000 downloads in South Korea, making it the group's fifth million-seller and currently their best selling single. Gaon also reported that the song has had over 100 million streams, making it the group's second song to reach the milestone, following "Russian Roulette".[20] It appeared again as the 58th biggest hit single on the 2018's Gaon Year-End Digital Chart, which saw the most year-end entries from the group with a total of four releases, including "Bad Boy" at number twenty-six, "Power Up" at number sixty-one and "Peek-a-Boo" at number eighty-three.[21]

Elsewhere, the song debuted at number four on the US Billboard World Digital Songs chart, making it their third song to debut and peak at the same position following "Happiness" (2014) and "Rookie" (2017).[22] The Korean version also debuted at number 24 and 25 on the Billboard Philippine Hot 100 and Billboard Japan Hot 100 respectively, marking their first entry (and currently their highest peak) on both charts.[23][24]

A day before its digital release, "Red Flavor" was performed live by the group for the first time at an SMTOWN concert in Seoul which was considered "unconventional" due to the tradition of performing the title track after its digital release.[25] Hours after its release on July 9, the group had their first music show performance on Inkigayo where they also performed "You Better Know".[26] They continued appearing on several music shows such as The Show, M Countdown, Music Bank and Show Champion where they earned their first music show trophy for "Red Flavor" on July 20, 2017.[27] The song was also part of Red Velvet's first solo concert Red Room in August 2017. It is the first Red Velvet song to be recorded and performed in Japanese, serving as their debut performance during a showcase in Japan on November 6, 2017 and later during the Japanese leg of the annual SMTOWN Live World Tour.[28] During the group's attendance at 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, the group performed the Hitchhiker remix version of the song along with their November single "Peek-a-Boo".[11] They continued to perform the song in its second remix version throughout 2018 and 2019.[12]

As part of the group's attendance and performance at the "Spring is Coming" concert, which was intended as part of a wider diplomatic initiative between South Korea and North Korea, Red Velvet performed the song along with "Bad Boy" in Pyongyang at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre to an audience that saw the appearance of Korean Workers' Party chairman Kim Jong-un. This made them only the fifth idol group to ever perform in North Korea and the first artist from SM Entertainment in fifteen years since the performance of former labelmate Shinhwa.[29][30][31]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
IZM[32]

Following its initial release, "Red Flavor" has received positive reviews from music critics. Tamar Herman of Billboard magazine called the track "dynamic in its jam-packed, but not overpowering production" and concluded that it is "sure to be one of the summer's K-pop earworms".[6] Jeff Benjamin of Fuse magazine described the song as a "super-simple-to-swallow piece of pop", giving credit to the "cheery-chanty melody" which he describes as one of Red Velvet's more accessible tunes.[33] Chase McMullen of The 405 website complimented the song as an "effortless pop glide" while Lee Gi-seon of IZM magazine reacted positively to the unity of the group, which was presented throughout the whole song in a review for its parental extended play.[10][34] Moreover, an individual single review from writer Hwang Sun-eob of IZM praised the "unusual" synthesizer and bassline of the track, citing the overall production for its "good" compromisation between the two to create their "favorite summer taste".[35] Chester Chin of The Star labelled it as an "in-your-face summer jam" and added that it's "relentlessly catchy".[36] Taylor Glasby of Dazed Digital commented that it "shouldn't be seen as merely a quirky fix", stating that "It's complex and intimidating and that it feels so immediate and identifiable on the surface is just emblematic of its greatness". With the mighty punch of its chorus, she claimed the song "completely won the summer".[37]

"Red Flavor" was included in IZM's Top 10 Singles of the Year and was named "Song of the Year" by GQ Korea in their November 2017 issue.[38][39] In December, Sun Mi-kyung of Osen selected it as one of their Memorable Songs of 2017 list, emphasizing the song's addictiveness and longevity on the charts, calling its hook "one of the best bars that hit the music industry".[40] Dazed Digital also included the song in their 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2017 list at number 2 and its music video was one of YouTube Korea's Top 10 Most Popular MVs of 2017.[37][41] The song also landed on Billboard's "20 Best K-Pop Songs 2017" list at number 4, with Jeff Benjamin praising the song's uplifting, addictive, deliciously bubblegum melody.[42] The magazine later ranked "Red Flavor" as the second best K-Pop song of the 2010s in November 2019, citing its "evocations of a bright summer romance" which are "felt in every flourish and quirk".[43]

Following the group's initial South Korea music shows promotion, Red Velvet earned their first Show Champion trophy for "Red Flavor" on July 20, 2017 and continued to achieved a total of five trophies by the end of July 2017.[27] Due to the song's massive commercial success, it was nominated for the Song of the Year - July category at the 7th Gaon Chart Music Awards in 2018, but lost to fellow labelmate EXO's "Ko Ko Bop".[49] The song, however, won the Best Digital Song category at the 32nd Golden Disc Awards, becoming the group's second time to win this category following "Ice Cream Cake" in 2016. "Red Flavor" also earned the group their first Korean Music Awards in their career in the Best Pop Song category, thus gaining the group's credibility amongst music critics.[50] The song also received a nomination in the Song of the Year category at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, but lost to Twice's "Signal".[51]

"Red Flavor (Orchestra Version)"
Single by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Park In-young
Released	July 17, 2020 (2020-07-17)
Genre	Classic symphony orchestra
Length	3:21
Label	SM Dreamus
Music video
"Red Flavor (Orchestra Version)" on YouTube

"Red Flavor (Orchestra Version)" is an orchestral song recorded by South Korean orchestra Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. The song was re-established with the arrangement of Park In-young.[71] SM Entertainment made its first collaboration with the orchestra forming a new classical label, SM Classics, creating an orchestral version of "Red Flavor". The music video for the "Red Flavor" orchestra features a 44-man orchestra performing "Red Flavor" under the direction of David Lee.[72]

• List of Gaon Digital Chart number ones of 2017