Red Velvet was finally back with a new mini-album. The entire theme of ‘The ReVe Festival: Day 2’ was summer. The six tracks are all on the happier side, leaning more towards their Red side than their Velvet side. Though I feel like ‘Eyes Locked, Hands Locked’ might be the exception, but more on that later.
The title track is ‘Umpah Umpah’. Apparently that’s a method to help you learn swimming. I wasn’t as shocked as when I heard ‘Zimzalabim’ for the first time. There isn’t really a big drop or EDM theme as was the case with ‘Zimzalabim’.
There’s a music video and it’s absolutely adorable. The members go on a summer vacation but it’s raining and they’re not really having a lot of luck with the house not being waterproof and all. Also Seulgi has to go to the roof to fix the antenna and it’s just too cute.
The second song is ‘Carpool’. It’s basically a party anthem for a summer night. It sounds really funky and everytime I will hear the words ‘Excuse me’ in the future, I’m automatically going to break out the ‘Excuse me, baby’ that the song opens with.
‘Love Is The Way’ is the third song on the album and it’s so retro. I need an MV with them looking like they walked out of a The Ronettes music video. All of the ‘yeah yeah yeah’s and ‘no no no’s are straight from a doo wop group from the fifties and sixties. Absolutely amazing. If someone wants to wear a hoop skirt and grab a milkshake with me, while we’re driving in a cabriolet to the drive-in, let me know.
‘Jumpin’ first of all has some funky bass . If we started off together in the ‘Carpool’ situation, we’re going to end up jumping to ‘Jumpin’. There’s some amazing harmonization and there’s definitely a feel-good factor to the song.
I’m kind of sensing a trend with all the retro feels this entire album has. ‘Ladies Night’ is no different. It’s kind of disco-ish, also the ad-libs are so, so good. I can see the music video that we’ll probably never have in front of my eyes. The girls are at a roller blade rink and there’s a disco ball and some rainbow colors and female empowerment.
The last track is ‘Eyes Locked, Hands Locked’ and it’s some smooth R&B goodness. Which is why I’m waiting for the day that we get a new album that’s all of their Velvet side and not just the B-tracks. Interesting fact, the song was written and produced by SUMIN who we featured in an earlier review.
This track is seriously giving me some ‘Kingdom Comes’ feels but I think the last one still reigns supreme as their best R&B track. Though I have so much love for ‘Eyes Locked, Hands Locked’.
I think this song was the perfect way to end this album. I’m thoroughly impressed.
Stan Queens, Stan Red Velvet.
Here’s the video for their title track:
