The year is steadily approaching the autumnal period of the year, before we know it – it’ll be Christmas once again. For this SOTW, we’re looking at SM girl group Red Velvet who are making their second comeback of the year with the title track ‘Russian Roulette’!

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As with most of their comebacks, the upbeat and perky side is always paired with the mature and subtle style. Russian Roulette has a similar style to Dumb Dumb, though admittedly on the first listen of this song, personally it wasn’t something that appealed to me. Though, after several more plays of the song, it can grow on you with its saccharine coated vocals.

The meaning of the title refers to the ‘game’ where a revolver is loaded with a single bullet in one of the chambers and it’s up to chance whether the bullet will be shot. It’s definitely a lethal activity that is often best to not attempt, though it’s used as a reference to love being a dangerous game. Yet, although it’s not as vicious as what had been portrayed in the MV, there is a certain type of risk when it comes to relationships and love, sometimes you just have to try even if you get hurt.

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“The risky aim, Russian Roulette”.

“Oh you still say, love is game
You tell me but you’re voice is shaking”.

“You’ll have to trust me
I’m your sweet Russian Roulette”.

 

 


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The MV matches well with the song, with a number of references to the title as a number of occasions the girls are faced with their impending fates. It’s executed quite cleverly and as aforementioned with the style being similar in tone with their previous comeback last year with ‘Dumb Dumb’, though this year looks as if they’re stepping it up a notch.

A side note that has been noticed is that the girls paired with blunt straight faces lip-syncing to the camera was almost robotic. Though, this has a more sinister undertone to it. But the near death experiences which are cut off abruptly have a somewhat comical twist to it, as the music video occasionally cuts to a couple of scenes of a devious mouse who is responsible for causing pain to its feline counterpart, like the cartoon show Tom and Jerry or even in the Simpson’s version Itchy and Scratchy.


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UnitedKpop Writer since 2015, partial to listening to 2NE1 and BLACKPINK.