Red Velvet is back on the stage and showcasing the red side of themselves again.  Their new EP forgoes a lot of the R&B side of themselves that so many of us love in favor of giving us a little more dancey goodness.  Not that there aren’t good vocals here.  No matter how Red Velvet has come back in their short time as a group, they always deliver the harmonies and solid solos that make you sit up and take notice.  Songs like Lucky Girl and Bad Dracula have them submerged in the harmonies from beginning to end and all the songs depend on the vocals to make them interesting.  This is likely the most vocal dependent release they have given us, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The production for this project feels a little more throwback than their previous sets.  The songs also feel a little more cutesy and youthful than a lot of their previous songs.  Sunny Afternoon sounds like something that BoA would have put out during her Amazing Kiss days and will take Kpop fans of a certain age back in a time warp.  However, the overall thrust of the sound is a little calmer than I think a lot of people were expecting from them and many of the tracks’ production feels a little generic in comparison to songs like Ice Cream Cake and Dumb Dumb.  While not completely alienating to newer fans, this will send them for a loop as the ladies have done a lot to this point to set themselves apart from the G-Friends and Lovelyz of the Kpop world.  We’ll have to see what direction they plan on taking this long term.

Our favorite tracks are Sunny Afternoon and My Dear.  The most skippable tracks are Bad Dracula and Fool.