On Nov. 13, 2023, South Korean girl group Red Velvet released their third full-length album “Chill Kill” to critical acclaim. With a dark, creepy, yet elegant concept, stunning visuals, and catchy songs, the album is a testament to Red Velvet’s ability to experiment with their sound in unique ways, surpassing previous albums and EPs in popularity and overall reception.
Red Velvet, formed in 2014 under Korean entertainment label SM, creates music under two umbrella concepts: their “red” side, which features more cutesy, bubblegum pop concepts, and their “velvet” side, which features darker, more mature concepts. “Chill Kill” falls under their “velvet” concept, but the album experiments with their sound and visual identity in a way that sets it apart from their other albums that fall under this category, such as “RBB (Really Bad Boy)” and “The Perfect Red Velvet.”
“Chill Kill” was first teased in September 2023, after SM announced that the group would be releasing an album later in the year. This was exciting for many fans, as the group hadn’t released a full-length album since 2017’s “Perfect Velvet.” Promotion for the album began in October, with the release of teaser videos of each member, as well as the announcement of the album name, “Chill Kill.” Following the album’s release, Red Velvet continued to promote by performing on several Korean television shows and posting on social media. While I do wish that SM had taken the time to promote the group more, as the members alone worked to promote the album as best they could, it was nice to see Red Velvet performing on stage again, especially since it had been a year since they did their promotions for their last release, “Birthday.”
One of the best aspects of “Chill Kill” was the promotional photos. Taken by photographer Cho Gi-Seok, the photos showed the members of Red Velvet in black dresses, posing with several objects and backdrops that drew inspiration from various East-Asian cultures. The promotional photos were praised for their eeriness and overall aesthetic, no doubt in part due to Cho’s particular style. His signature elements of neutral, muted colors, and shooting on film helped Red Velvet’s concept to stand out among other 2023 releases, and it was one of the main aspects of the pre-release promotion that stirred excitement among the group’s fans.
Upon first listening to the album, I was both shocked and conflicted as to how I felt. The title track “Chill Kill,” in particular, was not what I was expecting; the song begins with an eerie first verse and pre-chorus before the chorus switches to a more upbeat, optimistic tone. While I initially felt neutral about the song, it was the music video that truly solidified “Chill Kill” as one of my favorite Red Velvet title tracks. In an interview with Spotify Korea, one of the members, Joy, revealed that the music video was about “five sisters who are trapped in a tragedy,” and how they all work to overcome their hardships. The girls’ acting, as well as the excellent direction and cinematography, helped put the song in a new perspective for me and was perfectly fitted for the album’s creepy, dark concept.
Other notable songs on the album include “Knock Knock (Who’s There?),” an eerie song about falling in love, and “Nightmare,” an R&B-inspired track about the singer assuring themselves that everything will be alright even in the face of adversity. Despite some of the weaker tracks, such as “Will I Ever See You Again?,” every song fits perfectly with the album’s concept, and makes listening to “Chill Kill” in full a thrilling, otherworldly experience.
An aspect that Red Velvet always excels in is packaging for their physical releases. For “Chill Kill” specifically, the group released 19 versions of the album: two photobooks—one featuring the initial dark concept, and the other featuring a lighter, Greek mythology-inspired concept—five poster, package, and SMini editions for each member of the group (Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy, and Yeri), as well as two limited bag editions featuring both the dark and light concepts. My favorite version of “Chill Kill” is the package version, as you are able to choose which member you receive, and all of the add-ons like posters and postcards correspond to that specific member.
“Chill Kill” is one of Red Velvet’s strongest releases, with a distinct concept and visual style, and the tracklist shows how the group is not afraid to experiment with their music, exceeding other releases that have come before it. While I had already been a fan of Red Velvet prior to the release of “Chill Kill,” the album gave me an immense amount of respect for them as artists and proves that they are one of—if not the K-Pop group—with the most diverse discography in the industry.
