My reaction to WenRi leaving SM

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

It's been well over 12 hours since the news dropped. Am I shocked? No. This contract limbo has been dragged on for far too long giving us Reveluvs barely any closure but the hints were very well clear from the day Wendy badmouthed her company in the fancall to Wendy and Yeri not featuring in SMTown. Am I disappointed? Yes...and no. Disappointed that Red Velvet aren't together anymore (even though technically they still are; but let's be honest, seeing a Red Velvet comeback will be harder than ever now with members in different companies) But I'm glad that WenRi are leaving a shitty company to pursue their own dreams without being shackled by the chains of SM. Seeing how SM poorly treated Red Velvet's 10 year anniversary gave us a fair idea that they were never their priority.

The writing maybe well and truly was on the wall when their Red Velvet 10 year anniversary movie/documentary was aired 2 months ago. Towards the end of the movie when the 5 individual pieces of the cake were put back together while the girls looked back on their journey and it panned to this scene.

It was probably a hint that the unsigned members had other dreams to pursue? But here I am again just speculating. But it seemed quite poetic that I got to watch this movie and a few weeks later I get this piece of news.

So what does this mean now? Well as aforementioned, we'll be lucky to see a Red Velvet comeback every leap year. But at least we have Aseul? We could potentially have a 3Velvet subunit debut if SM are creative/competent enough but I'm just pulling random ideas out of thin air.

But what I do like to end this thread with is how much Red Velvet has meant to me personally. When I stanned T-ARA back in 09, I thought they would be THAT girl group (before disaster struck). But their discography was top tier. But enter Red Velvet. Their vocal colour, their chemistry on and off stage, their discography in my opinion far exceeded what I could possibly imagine. I could go on for several more pages about why Red Velvet are one of the greatest girl groups of all time. That movie/documentary is a very good reminder of how grateful I am to have Red Velvet in our lives. The existence of this incredible group. I feel so proud of to be a fan of them since debut and I have no regret whatsoever to be a Luvie.

​

 

[dnb]

... Red Velvet are one of the greatest girl groups of all time.

Absolutely.

 

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

Absolutely.

They may not be as well known as their fellow big 3 ggs in Twice and BP but I love how diverse their discography is. Never repeating previous concepts and its the little things that I admire about them.
Eg. Paying tribute to Bach by sampling his pieces in Feel My Rhythm AND releasing the MV on his birthday. How fitting that is

 

[UMJI MOODS]

Very true. Groups may change or disappear but the golden memories and songs stay with us for a lifetime.

 

[BianTwo]

The group lasted more than 10 years, for a GG that's a very long career. They can be proud of them. I like how the "3rd Gen Big 3 GG" were all different to appeal to different audience.

Red Velvet's sound or concept wasn't for me most of the time but they have a lot of songs, their discography is pretty solid and diverse.

 

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

The group lasted more than 10 years, for a GG that's a very long career. They can be proud of them. I like how the "3rd Gen Big 3 GG" were all different to appeal to different audience.

Red Velvet's sound or concept wasn't for me most of the time but they have a lot of songs, their discography is pretty solid and diverse.

I liked that they were not afraid to experiment different sounds and as one of the critics said about RV that they were "trailblazers stepping into unknown boundaries k-pop has never been to"

 

[Bellamy]

Their vocal colour, their chemistry on and off stage, their discography in my opinion far exceeded what I could possibly imagine. I could go on for several more pages about why Red Velvet are one of the greatest girl groups of all time.

This! 100%. There is something about their music that pulls you in and you never look back. They were the first korean group that made me listen the whole album not just the title track. SM may be incompetent but they did amazing putting these 5 girls together. And I will laways be grateful for that.

 

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

This! 100%. There is something about their music that pulls you in and you never look back. They were the first korean group that made me listen the whole album not just the title track. SM may be incompetent but they did amazing putting these 5 girls together. And I will laways be grateful for that.

Would've been the ultimate company if they could get their act together in other fields

 

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

Forgot to tag @SWAGGER whoops

 

[dnb]

They may not be as well known as their fellow big 3 ggs in Twice and BP but I love how diverse their discography is. Never repeating previous concepts and its the little things that I admire about them.
Eg. Paying tribute to Bach by sampling his pieces in Feel My Rhythm AND releasing the MV on his birthday. How fitting that is

Their sales numbers were not as high as their contemporaries', but that's partly because their music was so diverse, to the point of being called "experimental". SM A&R knew they had a group that could handle so many styles and genres. No other group could've handled the gospel styles of Would U and Wings, the citypop Bamboleo, and the New Orleans jazz-ish Sappy with equal skill and polish.

A music critic wrote that when you hear a Beatles song, you just know that it's a Beatles song. I feel the same way about ABBA and Red Velvet. I hear La Rouge, and I know it's a Red Velvet song. It's them. No one else could've done it.

 

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

A music critic wrote that when you hear a Beatles song, you just know that it's a Beatles song. I feel the same way about ABBA and Red Velvet. I hear La Rouge, and I know it's a Red Velvet song. It's them. No one else could've done it.

Yup highly agree with this.

I've seen many reactions say "that's a red velvet song". Red Velvet has become a genre in itself

 

[SWAGGER]

tbh I really thought wendy would renew . she seems like someone who talks a lot of sh*t but will they do something about it? I didn't think so. As humans it's in our nature to always complain about work (or school) etc. Does that mean we are gonna quit our jobs? drop out of school? NO. I have never seen someone who left SM who has done any better on their own. At most, they just do OK. so I'm not expecting much will change for her. We'll probably still see her doing radio and a few guest appearances here and there. For Yeri she seems like a "I can go either way.. or go with the flow" person. She'll probably try to focus on acting like most idols do as a individual career. And it will be like.. "oh.. you want me to join a RV cb? Ok... sure... why not." So don't think much will change for her either as she's already doing that now.

Sadly I just wish RV had better timing. I remember people used to get jealous of them cuz they had 3 comebacks every year consistently until covid happen. Then it kinda all went downhill. They just started a world tour and had to cut it short due to covid. That took 3 yrs of everyone's lives. then when they finally were able to get back out and be active Wendy had her accident/fall right after Psycho was released. Again, hiatus for few years. IMO I think they had some big plans but just had bad luck with timing.

I never missed a RV tour/concert except for the most recent one.. fancon? I can't really complain. They gave me a lot of good memories. I realize with Kpop everything is a cycle. They all have their peak and run. RV is one of the few who have made it pass 10 yrs. Where are those other groups who debut around same time as them? Activities as a group will slow down regardless as members focus more on their individual careers. Cuz lets be honest, no one wants to be in their 40s and still promoting as a idol group. I look at Super Junior and it's like.. I feel they only do it for their fans cuz if it was me I would start feeling embarrassed . Same with TVXQ, they don't need to do this anymore. They could retire. Changmin is married too. What does he need to do this for? That's why they renewed as well as Kangta. Their demands are probably small and could care less about comebacks and tours.

Anyway I'm not bitter. RV came along in my life to fill a void when as a Sone I felt the same way with snsd. But I think thats the beauty of kpop. There's always gonna be new groups. Its sad but eventually every group comes to an end. And that's gonna happen no matter what company a idol group is in. I choose to always look on the brighter side. It won't be the last well see RV together but I'm realistic as well.

 

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

tbh I really thought wendy would renew . she seems like someone who talks a lot of sh*t but will they do something about it? I didn't think so. As humans it's in our nature to always complain about work (or school) etc. Does that mean we are gonna quit our jobs? drop out of school? NO. I have never seen someone who left SM who has done any better on their own. At most, they just do OK. so I'm not expecting much will change for her. We'll probably still see her doing radio and a few guest appearances here and there. For Yeri she seems like a "I can go either way.. or go with the flow" person. She'll probably try to focus on acting like most idols do as a individual career. And it will be like.. "oh.. you want me to join a RV cb? Ok... sure... why not." So don't think much will change for her either as she's already doing that now.

Sadly I just wish RV had better timing. I remember people used to get jealous of them cuz they had 3 comebacks every year consistently until covid happen. Then it kinda all went downhill. They just started a world tour and had to cut it short due to covid. That took 3 yrs of everyone's lives. then when they finally were able to get back out and be active Wendy had her accident/fall right after Psycho was released. Again, hiatus for few years. IMO I think they had some big plans but just had bad luck with timing.

I never missed a RV tour/concert except for the most recent one.. fancon? I can't really complain. They gave me a lot of good memories. I realize with Kpop everything is a cycle. They all have their peak and run. RV is one of the few who have made it pass 10 yrs. Where are those other groups who debut around same time as them? Activities as a group will slow down regardless as members focus more on their individual careers. Cuz lets be honest, no one wants to be in their 40s and still promoting as a idol group. I look at Super Junior and it's like.. I feel they only do it for their fans cuz if it was me I would start feeling embarrassed . Same with TVXQ, they don't need to do this anymore. They could retire. Changmin is married too. What does he need to do this for? That's why they renewed as well as Kangta. Their demands are probably small and could care less about comebacks and tours.

Anyway I'm not bitter. RV came along in my life to fill a void when as a Sone I felt the same way with snsd. But I think thats the beauty of kpop. There's always gonna be new groups. Its sad but eventually every group comes to an end. And that's gonna happen no matter what company a idol group is in. I choose to always look on the brighter side. It won't be the last well see RV together but I'm realistic as well.

Agree with a lot of what you said but I think you might have got the timeline a bit wrong. You talked about covid and then when you said covid was over wendy got injured. Psycho was just before 2020 started.
And for me no other group does it for me besides RV. They were that group for me. Yes it's a cycle but RV was *that* peak group.

 

[dnb]

Agree with a lot of what you said but I think you might have got the timeline a bit wrong. You talked about covid and then when you said covid was over wendy got injured. Psycho was just before 2020 started.

Yes, you have it right.

Psycho's release and Wendy's accident both occurred in December 2019. The world started shutting down for COVID-19 in the first half of 2020.

Red Velvet had 3 or 4 concerts in Japan in early 2020 (Wendy was not able to attend those) and did not hold any other concerts during the pandemic.

 

[SWAGGER]

Agree with a lot of what you said but I think you might have got the timeline a bit wrong. You talked about covid and then when you said covid was over wendy got injured. Psycho was just before 2020 started.
And for me no other group does it for me besides RV. They were that group for me. Yes it's a cycle but RV was *that* peak group.

that's how I felt with snsd. I was like.. "i'll probably quit kpop after them. no other GG will be the same or do it for me" But here I am 10 yrs+ later. Like I'm not saying RV replaced them but it filled a void. All my favs have a special place in my heart.

Yes, you have it right.

Psycho's release and Wendy's accident both occurred in December 2019. The world started shutting down for COVID-19 in the first half of 2020.

Red Velvet had 3 or 4 concerts in Japan in early 2020 (Wendy was not able to attend those) and did not hold any other concerts during the pandemic.

Oh is that right? Well.. damn.. that timing sounds even worse. So Wendy injured and Covid was around same time?
But yeah.. I remember they were starting off their Japan dates and then had to end it because of Covid. Then the whole world went to crap for 3 years. I truly believe if not for Covid that was gonna be a tour of the year for them. But.. we will never know. No ones fault. Pandemic affected everyone

 

[dnb]

Oh is that right? Well.. damn.. that timing sounds even worse. So Wendy injured and Covid was around same time?
But yeah.. I remember they were starting off their Japan dates and then had to end it because of Covid. Then the whole world went to crap for 3 years. I truly believe if not for Covid that was gonna be a tour of the year for them.

I think Yeri had talked about plans for an international tour right around when Covid started. They were all set with lots of new material from the Reve Festival trilogy and new performance numbers developed for the La Rouge concerts.

 

[Seunghee's Eyebrows]

that's how I felt with snsd. I was like.. "i'll probably quit kpop after them. no other GG will be the same or do it for me" But here I am 10 yrs+ later. Like I'm not saying RV replaced them but it filled a void. All my favs have a special place in my heart.




Oh is that right? Well.. damn.. that timing sounds even worse. So Wendy injured and Covid was around same time?
But yeah.. I remember they were starting off their Japan dates and then had to end it because of Covid. Then the whole world went to crap for 3 years. I truly believe if not for Covid that was gonna be a tour of the year for them. But.. we will never know. No ones fault. Pandemic affected everyone

Yep. Iirc wendy fell in the sbs end of year gayo in December just a few days after the psycho mv dropped in 2019 then 2020 happened

I think Yeri had talked about plans for an international tour right around when Covid started. They were all set with lots of new material from the Reve Festival trilogy and new performance numbers developed for the La Rouge concerts.

Yeri always the one with ideas. If I'm not mistaken she came up with the cute idea for baby shark in the setlist