[Review] Red Velvet - One Of These Nights

Funnily enough, last time I reviewed a Red Velvet song was right after a Girl Group Power Ranking article. Coincidence or not, we're here with the title track of Red Velvet's "The Velvet," which I'm assuming is some counterpart to their previous album "The Red." Teasers showed the girls slowing down, so we're up for something along the lines of "Automatic," which I can definitely appreciate. Their slower songs are some of my favorite, after all.

Gosh darn it. "One Of These Nights" is another instance of the weird translation titles. The Korean is either "7 Months 7 Days" or "July 7th" but at least the English title is not that far off (looking at you, GFriend). I thought maybe there was some significance to the date if that indeed is the purpose but as far as I know I can't find anything that would support that claim. If anything, the fact that "one of these nights" is a line in the song is more confusing when you look at the Korean title. All that jargon aside, looks like girl groups are really killing the slow tracks so far this year. "One Of These Nights" is a very calming song that soothes the soul. The girls do a wonderful job with their voices that are both relaxing and uplifting at the same time. I get chills every time the line "let's meet again" at 1:40. Everything is just perfectly smooth. This is more of a testament to the song itself, since everyone in Red Velvet has a passable voice. Admittedly, I've always been more attracted to Seulgi's voice than Wendy's. Yeri is for sure the "weak link" but isn't that far off from the Dasom's and Hara's of the industry. Plus she's much younger too, and will have plenty more room to grow. And again, she doesn't sound anywhere near out of place in songs like this.

Red Velvet is no stranger to jam-packed MVs. From the tacky factories of "Dumb Dumb" and the curious colours of "Ice Cream Cake," they're not afraid to throw hectic scenes with bright and interesting combinations of colours are you. The only video that was extremely tame was the "Be Natural" remake, and even that MV used smooth camerawork and was more focused on an intricate choreography. Like the others, there's a million and one things going on in this MV. The video of "One Of These Nights" essentially combines the bright and aesthetically-pleasing colours and visuals of "Ice Cream Cake," "Dumb Dumb," with the smooth transitions and angles of "Be Natural," "Automatic." There are some interesting rumors of how this is paying homage (or describing) the tragic Sewol ferry sinking in 2014. I'm no conspiracy theorist so I'll acknowledge that such a thing exists and leave it at that. It's a complicated video that is offset by the lovely vocals, even if some of the colours seem too bright for a song that's this moody.

If "Ice Cream Cake" is Red Velvet's premier dance track, then "One Of These Nights" is their premier ballad track. It's a masterpiece, both in audio and certainly in video, and easily surpasses the previously impressive "Automatic." Beautiful singing, pristine visuals, excellent production, and has the best MV of 2016 so far. For a group that I'm not too invested in, they absolutely delivered with this piece, and is worthy of receiving the highest score I've ever given (at least to my memory).

[ Overall: 95 / 100 ]