Rejection from A Point of View, and Red Velvet

Talking about rejection, it must be frustrating. Everybody dislikes rejection. Can you imagine? You really want to buy something, a cake for example. You have money, but the vendor just tells you no. You cannot have it, and she doesn’t give a damn.

Well, somehow rejections are not bad anyway. It is a part of everyone's life cycle. So after rejection, there must be acceptance, right? It just needs a bit of work on it. Or a lot.

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From all these thoughts, it reminds me of a rock-legend girl group, Red Velvet, aside the fact that now I am binging to their songs.

Joy, Yeri, Irene, Seulgi and Wendy on SBS Gayo Daejeon 2019

These five members girl group once comes from major rejections, and now they are recognized from all over the world. Even each of them has their own story. Let's say, Irene and Seulgi. These two are perfect singers and dancers, beautiful, and also well-known among other trainees. Duo killer, let’s say. They were trained for quite long time: Irene 5 years and Seulgi 7 years! It is suprising how they could keep it up for that long since many trainees would have given up. There are news crowding internets about trainees that quit in the middle of the way.

These girls then debut together in one girlgroup, Red Velvet. And in the future, they two will make a sub-unit! Can’t wait for it.

Now let’s move to this lovely young lady, Joy. Her family, friends and neighborhood adore her beautiful voice. Then she signed up to SM Entertainment to be a singer. As she entered the company, she met another trainees which talents are much more better than her. She was so down at that moment, considering how each trainee competes hard to get to the debut stage. But some other trainees befriend with her and support each other. Then in mere two years, she debut to this legendary girl group along with her trainee squads. Joy also appeared in reality shows and drama that brings her name to fame. 

Then comes Wendy, the owner of an extraordinary voice. She’s a top smart student in her school in Canada as well, although she initially struggled in learning English. She wants to be a singer, so then she signed up to a top three agency, YG. But unfortunately she got rejected by the agency she longed for. Later, SM Entertainment, another top three, accepts her as a trainee. She was trained in just two years and gets to debut! In the future, she has so many solo and duets with top-tier singers like Yang Da Il and John Legend and sings for drama soundtracks, showcasing her angelic yet powerful voice.

These four awesome girls are Red Velvet! They will sing and dance in two different concepts. Red is in an upbeat and bubbly style and then Velvet is in soft, slow RnB. Such concept must be brought by professionals, and SM bears Red Velvet for it!

The girls then debut with their first Red song, Happiness!

Happiness MV, 2014

But this Happiness sadly turns downhill. This song was a total fail to “many” people. These girls were compared by their senior, SNSD/Girls Generation. Yes, it’s a déjà vu, considering SNSD had experienced the same thing as well. Their first performance was compared to the late successful girlgroup, Wonder Girls, and everyone booing their performance. This baby Red Velvet took the same path and internet citizens even told them to disband.

Geez, the world must know that SNSD is everyone’s loved girl group then! And so will Red Velvet.

And then they come back! These girls return with a Velvet concept, Be Natural. This is a legendary song sung by their senior, SES. Red Velvet featured a talented rapper of SM Rookies at that time, Lee Tae Yeong and then bring the song with a different color.

This group then add a new member to surprise. Kim Yerim. Yeri her stage name. She's the favorite trainee by the company because of her potential. She was trained since elementary school, and debut by the age of 15. People become skeptical because of her young age. And then the bashing comes again. Haters said that she was a total failure because she could not keep up with her fellow seniors. She ruined the choreography, she could not sing, unlike her four amazing unnies haters say. Sigh, those mean people. Wait until she comes in Ice Cream Cake song and slays the chart.

Yeri in the Ice Cream Cake brings a new color to the group. She is the Yes-Jam, funny, energetic, talented, and pretty. Her laughter and jokes brings light to the group. She is a rainbow in the rain. This Red Velvet becomes brighter by her appearance.

Then this group keeps rocketing.

Red concept comes again, Red Flavor! It tries to engage people from many nations by giving subtitles in its music videos in five languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, English and Korean. This song also says the background story of each members in a summery bright, artsy, and fruity fresh concept. This song becomes HUGE! It topped the national chart for several weeks, and sang by everyone in South Korea. Even another girlgroups and boygroups jammed to this hit!

Not only Red Flavor, many of their upcoming songs are total kills. Despite many ups and downs, Red Velvet keeps coming with their unpredictable concepts and always surprise everyone. They also don’t follow the trends because they set the trends!

This Red Velvet were not also known thoughout the South Korea, but also by fellow nation, North Korea and even other nations! Their so-called fandom, Reveluvs or Luvies, thoughout the world, always waits for their performance. Love loves them!

*Jakarta, 25 April 2020

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