In the new episode of Red Velvet's 'Level Up,' the girl group members spent time traveling, eating, and talking to one another about their deep thoughts.
In this latest video clip released on October 5, the Red Velvet members enjoyed some Korean pork belly bbq and sharing soju. While eating, the girls realized they are in their 9th year together and began reminiscing back to when they first began promotions.
The girls realized that they had such a busy schedule back to back when they first debuted. The members explained that when they were promoting the 'Rookie' album, they would go to Namhae to film after filming the music video for "Red Flavor" and "Peekaboo." Yeri said, "It was a really difficult schedule," and Joy added, "Back then, when we would open our eyes, we would have a schedule, so I thought that it will always be like that. But since some time, I thought it's not going to last forever, so it felt precious."
Wendy elaborated, "We had 3 promotions in a year. We even had 2 SM Stations." And Irene added, "That one or release a Japanese album," really explaining how busy the girls were at the beginning of their promotions. But the members realized they had grown up through their experiences.
While fans shared their support for the group, some netizens expressed their disappointment that the girls were not being promoted as much as they used by SM Entertainment. Netizens commented, "All idols are like that, they would make so many comebacks when they're at their peak but now even 1 comeback a year is a lot," "SM is trash," "I wish they would make more comebacks," "Wow, three comebacks a year is really tight," and "Red Velvet was the only girl group that was promoting as a group from SM when they were doing 'Red Flavor' and 'Peekaboo' that's why they must have felt more pressured and were busier."
SHARE
I defend companies not promoting idols throughout the year when they're 5 years-old or older bc a group like Red Velvet should have a large fanbase by that juncture and you have to let the members try new endeavors. The RV ladies talked about how busy they were from 2017-2019 but that could easily result in them being overworked. Idols always talk about how they only sleep 2-3 hours a day but fans ignore that fact bc they get to watch their idols promote. There's a hypocrisy in fans when they complain about their favorites being overworked but complain when they only get 1 comeback a year.
What I don't like however, is when companies ignore a top group simply bc they believe they have a large enough and dedicated fanbase to buy and stream anything they release. At the end of the day, you have to give quality music and place them in variety shows, radio shows, music shows, etc. (if that's their thing) for the promotional period.
Companies always have to do more for the newer groups. It's the life cycle for companies and K-Pop groups but these labels also have to max out the promotional period and the music for a veteran group and not just give the bare minimum.