FACTS ABOUT YOUR KPOP IDOL

RED VELVET (레드벨벳)

Red Velvet (: 레드벨벳) is a formed by . The group debuted on August 1, 2014, with their digital single "Happiness." The group is composed of five members: Irene, Seulgi,Wendy,Joy and Yeri.

Since their debut, Red Velvet has experienced notable success and recognition. In September 2015, the group's first full-length album, The Red, topped the Gaon Album Chart and theBillboard  World Albums Chart. Red Velvet has received a total of eleven music awards, including two awards for choreography; Best Dance – Female and Best Dance Performance – Female Group , as well as three new artist awards.

Red Velvet members have also made television appearances; Irene as a host of Music Bank, Yeri as a host of Music Core , and Joy on the fourth season of variety show We Got Married .

Concept[]

The group's name represents its concept, defined by two different images (Red and Velvet) portrayed in their music and performances. "Red" signifies their vivid and bold image, whereas "Velvet" reflects their classy and toned-down side.

Among their title tracks, "Happiness", "Ice Cream Cake" and "Dumb Dumb" falls under the "Red" concept, while "Be Natural", "Automatic" and "7월7일 (One Of These Nights)" are on the "Velvet" side of the spectrum.

Pre-debut[]

Seulgi was the first member to be cast as an trainee through an audition in 2007, while Irene was cast in 2009. Yeri was cast through the S.M. Global Auditions in the U.S. in 2011. In 2012, Wendy and Joy were cast through the S.M. Global Auditions in Canada and Seoul respectively. Irene, Seulgi and Wendy were rumored to debut as a group in July, which was then confirmed by S.M. Entertainment. With the addition of member Joy, the four-member group would debut as Red Velvet, S.M. Entertainment's first girl group in five years since .

2014: Debut with Happiness and Be Natural[]

On August 1, 2014, Red Velvet made their official debut stage on the music program . Their debut single, "Happiness", was digitally released on August 4. The song was penned by and composed by Will Simms, (), , and Anne Judith Wik (). It was described as an urban song with a strong synth sound and an African tribal beat.

The original music video for "Happiness" gained more than 2 million views on in its first 24 hours of release before being removed due to controversy over problematic background images and replaced with an edited version. "Happiness" was the second-most viewed K-pop music video worldwide for the month of August.

Red Velvet released their second digital single "Be Natural" and its music video on October 13. The song, which includes a rap verse by S.M. Entertainment rookie Taeyong, is a remake of the 2000 song of the same name by , S.M. Entertainment's first girl group. The music video for the song was directed by Kwon Soon-wook and Shim Jae-won, choreographed by Kyle Hanagami, and features original choreography seen in a pre-debut teaser of Irene and Seulgi, which they performed as part of S.M. Rookies. The group started their promotions on October 9, making their first appearance on the music program, .

2015: New member Yeri, Ice Cream Cake, and The Red[]

On March 11, 2015, former S.M. Rookies member Yeri was officially announced as part of the group. On March 15, the group's first mini-album was released. The group promoted with double lead singles "Automatic" and "Ice Cream Cake" for which the music videos were released on March 14 and 15.

On March 19 the group commenced promotions on music shows and also promoted the album through Ice Cream TV, a program streamed through and hosted by 's . On March 27, they won their first music show trophy on and won on all of South Korea's music programs that week. The album went on to become the best selling album by a girl group in South Korea for the first half of 2015 on the Hanteo Chart.