RED VELVET became SM’s “stepchild”: Even the promotion period is given just bare minimum time
Compared to other groups of the same time, RED VELVET has all the elements needed to be at the top. However, SM hasn’t given the group the best treatment, so the group still cannot really shine.
Continuing the aura from the 2nd gen, 3rd gen groups have brought to the Kpop music industry a series of famous hits along with unique musical colors. In particular, on the side of girl groups, RED VELVET is one of the most highly appreciated names next to TWICE and BLACKPINK.
However, fans think that SM Entertainment doesn’t know how to treat their artists properly when it is quite half-hearted in the group’s activities when compared to other popular names of the same time.
RED VELVET officially debuted in 2014 with a lineup of only four members including Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Joy. In 2015, Yeri was added to the group and became the youngest member of the family.
Right from their debut, the group impressed the audience by Wendy’s unique style and outstanding voice in the debut song Happiness. After that, the group’s next songs received a lot of positive responses and compliments from fans.
RED VELVET possesses all the elements to become a top Kpop group such as coming from one of the BIG 3 companies, having top-notch visuals, good vocals and dancing ability along with unique music colors. However, when compared with two popular names of the same time, TWICE (debuted in 2015) and BLACKPINK (debuted in 2016), in general, RED VELVET has not really dominated the throne.
BLACKPINK is always in the top brand of each month even though they come back only once a year. The 4 girls are also Ambassadors of the world’s famous brands. TWICE not only owns many contracts with brands, but also constantly comes back with new concepts. Meanwhile, Red Velvet does not have too many exciting activities.
Fans have repeatedly pointed out that SM is going back to the old ways with f(x) when, because of the company’s indifference, f(x) has come to an unexpected end even though the group is also highly appreciated. There are many comments that RED VELVET is gradually becoming the “stepchild” of the company.
RED VELVET does not come back as rarely as BLACKPINK but also not as often as the 9 TWICE girls. However, each time the group comes back, the promotion period is quite short, most often ending after only 2 weeks, the longest time being only 3 weeks.
Specifically, Red Flavor, a big hit in Red Velvet’s career, was only promoted for 3 weeks. Power Up, SM’s first Perfect All-Kill song, was only promoted for 2 weeks. Other songs like Bad Boy was only given a week and a half and Psycho was a week. RED VELVET’s latest comeback with Queendom after 2 years of waiting was only promoted for 2 weeks.
Besides the short promotions, SM is also said to limit the group’s activities. It is known that at the present time, almost all big groups have signed contracts with US record labels to expand their activities, even groups outside of BIG 3. Many other groups are promoted on Japanese shows, but RED VELVET has neither of these.
Meanwhile, the group actually has great potential if they are invested to develop in the US. In 2018, Bad Boy was the first song of a K-Pop girl group to enter Spotify US Daily, the album Really Bad Boy sold more than 10,000 copies and was the best-selling K-Pop girl group album in the US at that time even though the group had no promotion in the US. The group’s four most recent albums reached the top 1 on iTunes US after only a few hours of release.
The Japanese market is also a place where RED VELVET can flourish, but after debuting with a series of songs, the group has yet to appear on shows in this country. This caused the group’s attraction and popularity to drop significantly because almost every K-pop group promotes their music career in Korea and Japan at the same time.
In response to the above analysis, fans think that RED VELVET really has not been fully cared for by SM. If the group is given more care and investment, and expands its promotion outside of the Korean music market, the popularity of RED VELVET can extend even further. Do you have this same thought? Please share with us!
