ALL ABOUT THE RED VELVET GROUP

Red Velvet is a female K-pop group composed of five members (Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy, and Yeri), formed by SM Entertainment. They made their debut on August 1, 2014 with a digital single titled "Happiness" released three days after their debut, on August 4, 2014. The video for this title was the most viewed worldwide in August 2014, which is quite an impressive start, though not necessarily for good reasons. Their debut was highly followed by the public; indeed, the group already had notoriety even before debuting, and some of the members were already very well-known.

What many people don't know is that when they debuted, they were not five but four members, Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, and Joy. Yeri joined the group only a year and a half later because at the time the group debuted she was too young. But it was planned from the start because you can see her in the music video for the title "Happiness" if you look closely.

They officially became a group of five members with the release of the title "Ice-cream cake" on March 11, 2015.

The concept of their group is explained by its name. "Red" represents the bright and fun concept while "velvet" represents maturity and elegance. These characteristics are found in their music videos. The members also have a color and an associated fruit:

• Irene: Red/red, watermelon
• Seulgi: Orange/yellow, pineapple
• Wendy: Blue, Orange
• Joy: green, kiwi
• Yeri: Violet, grape

Today the group is worldwide known and holds about ten awards. Their fandom is called "ReVeluv".

PMORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MEMBERS

Irene, whose real name is Bae Ju Hyun, is the leader of the group, she is also the main dancer, main rapper as well as the visual of the group. She was born on March 29, 1991, so she is 31 years old. She joined the label in 2009, and in 2013 she participated in the "SMROOKIES" project which made her known. She has appeared in films and series, the most famous being "Descendants Of The Sun" released in 2016.

• The other members say that even though she is the oldest, she is the most immature in the group
• She is 161 cm tall
• She weighs 44 kg
• She is friends with Jennie from BlackPink

Kang Seul Gi is a singer and actress, she also became known through the SMROOKIES project. She was born on February 10, 1994, she is now 28 years old. She joined the label in 2007. In 2015 she performed in the musical "Hologram Musical: School OZ."

• Since she has been a trainee, she has been close to Kai from Exo
• She is also close to the group MAMAMOO and Ji Soo from Blackpink
• She is described as very calm
• She is 162 cm tall
• She weighs 42 kg
• She speaks Japanese

Wendy (Son Seung Hwan) is the main vocalist, she was born on February 21, 1994, she is 28 years old. She lived in Canada where she auditioned several times to join the SM Entertainment label, it was only in 2012 that she was accepted into the agency, and she was also part of the "SMROOKIES" project. Since she lived in Canada, she speaks English very well.

• She plays the piano and the guitar
• The other members have designated her as the best cook
• In addition to English, she also speaks French and Spanish
• She is 160 cm tall
• She weighs 40 kg

Joy (Park Su Yeong) is a singer and dancer but also an actress, born on September 3, 1996, making her 25 years old. She joined the label in 2012 but unlike the other members, she was not part of the "SMROOKIES" project. However, later she acted in several k-dramas that made her well known.

• She is 168 cm tall
• She weighs 43 kg
• She is a fan of Ariana Grande
• She is close to the group BtoB
• She is friends with Rosé from Blackpink
• She is described as very sensitive
• She is a fan of Mark from the group NCT

Yeri (Kim Ye Rim), aged 23, was born on May 5, 1999, making her the youngest in the group. She joined the label in 2011 and was the last to join the group in 2015. She comes from a large family, has three younger sisters, and contrary to her position as the youngest in the group, she is the oldest in her family.

• She is 158 cm tall
• She weighs 45 kg
• She loves eating bread
• She likes Hello Kitty
• She is friends with Sana from TWICE
• She is close to IU

Endless controversies and scandals 

Given that Korean society is quite conservative, scandals within K-pop groups are quite frequent concerning topics that elsewhere in the world are considered "normal." Thus, the group Red Velvet has been at the center of this kind of controversies in South Korea several times. However, they have also been at the center of more serious controversies; here are two examples among many scandals:

• In 2014

Previously we saw that the group was already known well before their debut and that their first music video was widely viewed, but this was not only due to their fame. Indeed, the video was heavily criticized because it showed images reminiscent of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Following the controversy, the group's agency apologized and replaced the video.

But it was not the first time the group made headlines. Before the teasers for the music video were released, some fans accused the label of advancing the group's debut to compete with other K-pop groups and to divert attention from other scandals.

Problems continued for the group as later, once again, the label SM Entertainment was accused of plagiarism, more precisely, it was accused of plagiarizing the group's logo, the issue was quickly resolved concluding that their logo resembles other logos simply due to a lack of originality.

• In 2018

On March 31, 2018, a meeting took place between the leaders of South Korea and North Korea, artists from each country were chosen to perform at this historic event. Red Velvet was chosen for the occasion to represent South Korean artists.

Their performance went very well and was much appreciated. At the end, in front of the cameras, Kim Jong Un shook the hands of the group members to thank them, after which they were interviewed to talk about their experience and feelings but what they said did not go unnoticed.

One of the members said the following sentence "we think it is a great honor" speaking about having met the North Korean leader and shaking his hand, which was not appreciated at all by the fans, as it implies that they approve and tolerate the actions of this leader. And it didn't stop there because a week later when they were invited to the Blue House they reportedly described Kim Jong Un as being "warm" and once again their words were not appreciated at all.