Diplo interviews Red Velvet for Interview Magazine

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

Red Velvet, an all-female Korean supergroup comprising five young pop stars—Irene (Bae Joohyun), Seulgi (Kang Seulgi), Wendy (Shon Seungwan), Joy (Park Sooyoung), and Yeri (Kim Yerim)—was created in 2014 by SM Entertainment, a company that has helped develop and popularize the global K-pop phenomenon. In their still-nascent career, they have released countless songs with frothy titles such as “Power Up,” “Dumb Dumb,” and “Umpah Umpah”—all packaged into two studio albums, one reissue album, one compilation album, and 11 EPs. As they continue their worldwide expansion, following in the footlights of BTS and Blackpink, they have played sold-out American shows, secured endorsement deals with everyone from Coca-Cola to Prada, broken streaming records for their contribution to the 2020 animated film Trolls World Tour, and added Korean lyrics to a remix of the song “Close to Me,” by Ellie Goulding and Diplo. There’s a duality to their identity that they’ll explain later, which is why we could think of no one better to ask them a few questions than Diplo, a dance-hall legend with a penchant for country.


DIPLO: Tell me about your name. Why are you called Red Velvet?

RED VELVET: Red Velvet is a combination of “red,” representing our bold, more sophisticated side, and “velvet,” which reflects our softer, more feminine side. The name encapsulates our signature color and describes who we are as artists, and what we want to accomplish: to captivate the world with great music and performances of different genres and styles.

DIPLO: What separates you from your K-Pop peers? In what ways are you trying to distinguish yourselves?

RED VELVET: As embodied by our group name, we have our own unique color that can be seen in everything that we do: “red” for the vivid and bold, and “velvet” for more of our soft, toned-down side. This is what makes us different from other artists.

DIPLO: What are some of the things you love about America?

RED VELVET: We love that we can experience and easily access a wide variety of different cultures.

DIPLO: When you’re traveling, what do you miss most about home?

RED VELVET: When we’re abroad for work, we’re constantly on the move—to new hotels, new cities, and new environments. It can get pretty lonely sometimes, especially when we’re alone in our hotel rooms at night. That’s when we miss being together with our families and our pets.

DIPLO: What is your go-to room service order?

RED VELVET: We always order steak when we order room service. Always.

DIPLO: What’s it like for you walking down the street in South Korea?

RED VELVET: We usually cover our faces with a hat and a mask so there is no problem walking down the streets here. If we act natural, we blend right in.

DIPLO: How have your lives changed since starting the band in 2014?

RED VELVET: We feel like the change hasn’t been too dramatic, but seeing fans support us from all around the world makes us emotional every time. It never ceases to amaze us that we get this support and love, and we are so incredibly grateful for all of it. Our fans inspire us to work harder every day and to spread more positive energy.

DIPLO: What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done or given you?

RED VELVET: At our very first event, shortly after our debut, we didn’t yet have an official light stick, so our fans were cheering us on with these dusters—that you use to clean—because they were the same color as our hair back then. That was a pretty memorable sight.

DIPLO: What would each of you be doing if you weren’t in the entertainment business?

RED VELVET: This is easy for Joy. She loves children and dogs, so she’d probably be working to become a certified dog trainer or teaching kindergarten.

DIPLO: Where would you like to see yourselves as a band in ten years?

RED VELVET: Enjoying life to the fullest, always smiling, and doing what makes us happy.

DIPLO: Besides me, which American artist would you most like to collaborate with?

RED VELVET: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, and Tori Kelly.







Editor’s Note: The band’s fifth member, Wendy (not pictured), is still recovering from the trauma of a serious stage accident that occurred in December 2019.





source: interviewmagazine

Comments

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

it's odd that the answers are all credited to RV as a whole group. I picture them staring and saying the words all at once like creepy quadruplets

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

LMFAO

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

it would suit their concept lol

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

LMAO

[nefertitii.livejournal.com]

lmao the image. the unified answers also creeped me out

[aleksu7.livejournal.com]

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

you know when the answers are said BY THE ENTIRE GROUP that a staff wrote this lmao
diplo is so random for this and i bet he didn't even write the questions himself

though the "BESIDES ME" before asking about collabs cracked me up

[chiives.livejournal.com]

this is... a pretty awful interview lmao like these are all variations of questions and answers they've had for the past 4 years. and why can't they be called out by name instead of "red velvet"...

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

RED VELVET: At our very first event, shortly after our debut, we didn’t yet have an official light stick, so our fans were cheering us on with these dusters—that you use to clean—because they were the same color as our hair back then. That was a pretty memorable sight.

lol I don't remember this! This is really funny.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

I remember! They were promiting their colors a lot more than they are now during Happiness, and fans found blue-green-yellow-orange dusters (https://images.app.goo.gl/LBL1iEdaVcsobHEv6) so it was perfect lol
(Even though Irene's color is pink and not orange but honestly not that important lol)

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

LOL that's amazing!

[goldenrosalie.livejournal.com]

interviewed by diplo... yeah how about NO

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

I love these photo's, they look amazing!

[paige-nevaeh.livejournal.com]

Could whoever prepared their answers not have come up with a more inspiring answer for Q2
I’m not even a fan of RV but even I know there’s more than separates them from the flock than “we are red ... and we are velvet”

[myungung.livejournal.com]

not the best interview for them. also it's been a while since you had red and velvet concepts though RV, who you lying to

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Hmm I viewed Zimzalabim (idk if I’m spelling that right lol) and Umpah Umpah as Red concepts and Psycho was Velvet?

[myungung.livejournal.com]

Umpah Umpah felt like a Red release. but ZZLB and Psycho could be either though, a la how they described Bad Boy (which apparently wasn't Velvet?)

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Oh for me Psycho isn’t Red at all, it didn’t have the blend of the two concepts like Peek-a-boo did. Bad Boy is definitely Velvet to me even if they don’t think so lol

But yea I’m not sure what criteria they’re following so maybe it is best to abandon it lol

[myungung.livejournal.com]

PAB ZZLB and Psycho had the noisy chorus that Red songs have, but then again it really seems like they can’t differentiate both sides anymore so it’s good they stopped.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

This sounds like none of this interview actually took place, they just threw in Diplo’s name. It sounds like Interview magazine wanted to feature RV and their team just gave them some questions and answers filled out

But also eww Diplo

[kcaomei.livejournal.com]

i can't imagine diplo asking a single one of these questions lmao

this whole interview just gives me weird vibes