‘The ReVe Festival: Finale’ is the last installment of Red Velvet‘s ‘The ReVe Festival’ series that continued throughout 2019. Both Day 1 and Day 2 of the series had a strong carnival and party-like vibe to them, while also including Red Velvet’s quirky sound. While both title tracks “Zimzalabim” and “Umpah Umpah” were polarizing, Red Velvet still pushed forward with their unique concept. The “Finale” was a return to Red Velvet’s more velvet side, with the title track “Psycho” being reminiscent of their previous songs such as “Automatic“, “Be Natural“, and “Bad Boy“.
“Psycho”
yooamygirls: “Pyscho” is an addicting pop R&B track that utilizes Red Velvet‘s powerful and smooth vocals perfectly. Wendy and Seulgi push the song forward with their ad-libs and runs, making the song flow beautifully. It’s a lot more contained and public-friendly than “Zimzalabim” and “Umpah Umpah“, but it isn’t boring by any means. Instead, it feels like a more energetic version of “Bad Boy“, with the chorus’s repeated “Psycho” bound to be stuck in your head. It also sounds thematically cohesive with the previous albums.
Song Score: 8/10
BlueNose: “Psycho” is the final title track of the “The ReVe Festival” trilogy. Musically, it’s very different compared to the previous parts of the series. It’s considerably darker and more serious. “Psycho” was described as “an uptempo pop song with ever-changing melodies and an addictive hook.” during its teasing period. The song has a strong R&B and Trap influence with an added mythical vibe because of the instrumental flourishes. The heavy bass and electric keyboard give “Psycho” depth, while the synths throughout keep things cute and poppy. “Psycho” at its foundation is a very simple song, but the vocal touches give it an extra flare. One thing I think most people noticed within the first couple days of the release is that the Youtube version and the streaming version of “Psycho” are different. The Youtube version has extra synths in the chorus, outro, and during Seulgi’s second pre-chorus. The track describes this “disturbed” relationship. They fight and then get back together as if nothing happened, shown through lines like, “As we fight like it’s our last but then we get along”. Like “psychos”, they come back to each other only to rinse and repeat why they fought in the first place.
Song Score: 9/10
“In & Out”
yooamygirls: While I’ve always loved the majority of Red Velvet‘s B-sides, unfortunately, this album fell flat in that sense for me. “In & Out” started well with a strong beat and Wendy‘s low register really pulling me in. I also liked Yeri‘s and Irene’s playful verses, but the chorus disappointed me. It feels dissonant and disconnected from the rest of the song, and while I can appreciate Red Velvet‘s efforts in trying something new, the chorus isn’t something I have yet to come to enjoy.
Song Score: 4/10
BlueNose: The second track, “In & Out”, was described as “a medium pop dance song that compares falling in love with the process of tasting sweet donuts”. Adding to Red Velvet’s large repertoire of songs based on foods and drinks, “In & Out” is a trap, hip hop, and synth-pop album track with a catchy melody. It flows well after “Psycho” and It reminds me of their 2017 release “I Just”, up until the trap kicks in at the start of the chorus. Joy handled her killing notes well; when the instrumental quietened down and it’s just her sweet vocal tone keeping the song going. Irene and Yeri also got a few parts that brought an extra flavor. The first half of the chorus has this simple groove about it, but the second half is one of my favorite parts of the song, as it delves into this bouncy, club tune. It’s one fatal flaw? I can’t listen to it while driving. The sirens in the background sound like a police car or an ambulance, and it causes me to take a second and look around to see if there’s really one nearby or if it’s just the song.
Song Score: 9.5/10
“Remember Forever”
yooamygirls: “Remember Forever” is this album’s resident R&B ballad, and while Red Velvet usually does them extremely well, this wasn’t that memorable for me. I much preferred “Eyed Locked, Hands Locked” from the Day 2 album, which had a similar sound but had a more addicting chorus. This track sounds like a filler, and I’ve yet to really find myself seeking it out.
Song Score: 4.5/10
BlueNose: “Remember Forever” is described as “a pop ballad featuring waltz-like rhythms and piano reminiscing summer memories”. The track takes a bit of influence of Christmas to liven it up a little bit. With “ReVe Festival: Finale” being released only two days before Christmas, it makes sense that Red Velvet’s creative team would sneak this into the album. This third track is not quite my favorite off the album, as anyone who knows me knows that Christmas music doesn’t really tickle my fancy. I’d put it in the better half of Red Velvet’s ballads because I find it a little more replayable than some. But compared to the other tracks on the album, I’m likely to skip it. I will say that the instrumental is really pretty despite the arrangement not being much to write home about and works well to transition to “Eyes Locked, Hands Locked”. I think its the bass in the background that’s keeping the song from completely bubbling under into boring for me.
Song Score: 5/10
La Rouge (Special Track)
yooamygirls: “La Rouge” is by far my favorite B-side of the album, and one of my top B-sides of the series as a whole. It’s so jazzy, playful, and sassy, and as someone who hasn’t listened to the song previously (they performed it during their concerts), I was thoroughly impressed during my first listen. Joy blew me away with her vocals, and this is the type of song that I expected from the velvet side of Red Velvet.
Song Score: 7.5/10
BlueNose: “La Rouge”, which translates to “The Red“, ironically leans pretty hard onto the group’s velvet side. SM tried to pretend that “La Rouge” (known at the time to fans as “Shining”) would be a concert only song and that it was made specifically for the La Rouge tour. I heard the song live, albeit the shortened version, and the studio version is just as spectacular. Leaning heavily towards jazz, “La Rouge” gets most of its influence from show-tunes and musicals, wherein the guitar gives the song an intimate and sexier appeal. Red Velvet isn’t green to using their vocals to bring a song to new heights, but “La Rouge” really utilizes everyone and brings out their best points. This song shows that Red Velvet needs all of the members to shine vocally as a unit. Yeri and Irene are the backbones of their harmonies while Wendy, Seulgi, and Joy are the ones that flesh out everything.
Song Score 9.75/10
Closing Remarks
yooamygirls: Perhaps the reason this album didn’t live up to my expectations had to do with the fact that it’s too short. I fully expected this album to be at least a mini-album. So with only four songs, it was hard for me to compare this album to Day 1 and Day 2. I’m happy SM decided to make this a compilation album and include all the tracks on Day 1 and Day 2 to make it feel more cohesive, and the listeners can really tell the story that Red Velvet was trying to tell throughout the year. While the title track was definitely strong, the B-sides could’ve been better. However, despite it all, I still value this album quite highly for closing the ‘The ReVe Festival’ series in a satisfying way.
Artistic Creativity: 6/10
Vocal Quality: 8/10
Music: 6/10
Album ‘The ReVe Festival’ Finale: 6.6/10
BlueNose: After finishing the “Finale” section of the album, I was left a little disappointed by the lack of cohesiveness. Day 1 and Day 2 were both incredibly cohesive as albums and told a nice story. However, for “Finale“, I feel like only “Psycho” and “In & Out” flow well after the other. This is made up a little bit when you see the whole trilogy together, but I feel like things would’ve been a little bit more close-knit with one or two more songs between “In & Out” and “Remember Forever“. Hearing the trilogy as a whole, I feel appreciative that every song is so different, yet they easily go from one another fluidly. Because of this series, Red Velvet got to try many different genres and styles that they haven’t touched on before (reggae, doo-wop, and Bossanova among a few things) while still (in my opinion) cementing their sound for 2019, and it ended on a high note with Psycho’s success.
Artistic Creativity: 7/10
Vocal Quality: 9/10
Music: 8.3/10
Album ‘The ReVe Festival’ Finale: 8.1/10
