RED VELVET THEORY

Background

Russian roulette is a lethal game of chance in which a player places a single round in a revolver,spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against the head and pulls the trigger. “Russian” is the supposed country of origin, and “Roulette”  is the element of risk tasking- like a spinning roulette wheel. Since only one chamber is loaded, the player has one in x chance in being shot ( x being the number of chambers in the cylinder. So, for instance, if a revolver holds five rounds, the chance is one in five.

8-bit sounds are often used in video games, and it is heard in the background of the music; which shows that it is a ‘ game ‘ that they are playing – a scary one.

 Lyrics

( the lyrics have a really deep meaning )

 La-La-La-La-La–

Surrounded by a sharp secret Behind a veil Deeper and deeper, h-h-hush Aiming for your heart now This place is the color of a dark night Even the shadows get lost

Oh you’re always like, love is game You say it’s light and easily enjoyed Why do you keep saying these bad things Trying to avoid me?

Growing heart b-b-beat It’s getting faster Not like you, heart b-b-b-beat Whenever you see me Till the very last moment It comes closer and closer, crazy The risky aim, Russian Roulette Ah-Ah-Ah-Yeah La-La-La-La-La– Heart B-B-B-Beat Until the very last moment You’ll have to trust me I’m your sweet Russian Roulette

A dazzling secret You can’t turn away from it anymore I’ll p-p-push your button Accept it now So your heart can be filled with me You’ll look for me even when you’re dreaming

Oh you still say, love is game You tell me but you’re voice is shaking Past the playful eyes I see you, not knowing what to do

Growing heart b-b-beat It’s getting faster Not like you, heart b-b-b-beat Whenever you see me Till the very last moment It comes closer and closer, crazy The risky aim, Russian Roulette Ah-Ah-Ah-Yeah La-La-La-La-La– Heart B-B-B-Beat Until the very last moment You’ll have to trust me I’m your sweet Russian Roulette

You never had this deep of a dream before My heart and this night makes this game flicker You can’t control

Growing heart b-b-beat It’s getting faster About to explode Heart B-B-B-Beat I’ll hold onto the key Till the very last moment It comes closer and closer, crazy The risky aim, Russian Roulette Ah-Ah-Ah-Yeah La-La-La-La-La– Heart B-B-B-Beat It’s already engraved in you, can’t take it out Deeper in your heart I’m your sweet Russian Roulette

Growing heart b-b-beat It’s getting faster La-La-La-La-La– Growing heart b-b-beat It’s getting faster La-La-La-La-La– Heart B-B-B-Beat

 MV story

 The 5 girls of Red Velvet like the same guy ,and because only one of them can be with him, they decide to play “Russian Roulette” and tries to kill each other until the last one standing. So Red Velvet has five members, so there is five chambers in the cylinder, and each member get x out of 5 chances in getting shot. In "The Fatalist" (1840), a minor character places a gun with an unknown number of bullets to his head, pulls the trigger and survives. For Red Velvet’s case, Irene is supposedly the last one standing, as seen at the end of the MV as a heart is shot at her.

 In the teasers, Joy’s teaser has her name written in yellow- Seulgi’s colour; while Yeri’s name is written in pink- Irene’s target, and Wendy has her name written in purple- Yeri’s colour.

So it probably goes like this:  

Joy>Seulgi>Wendy>Yeri>Irene

However, it is really complicated as they are all trying to kill each other and everyone targets each other.

  1. Wendy starts off with a smirk on her face as she lights up a rope. She pulls a string that is attached to a shirt, which belongs to Seulgi, and Seulgi appears shocked. Wendy whispers to Seulgi a “secret” that has to be kept.

2. Yeri throws a ball at Irene, and Irene dodges. The other members picks up other things that are not sports items – supposedly dangerous.

 3. Seulgi pushes a stack of dominoes, signifying the fall of a person, and a balloon pops.

4. A ball is thrown at Joy by God knows who and she is surprised

  5. Seulgi and Wendy face off in a tennis court, facing each other with a tennis net in between them, signifying rivals.

6. Wendy pushes Yeri into the swimming pool with an evil look on her face.

7. Itchy and Scratchy appear and the locker scene with Seulgi being the target is shown as a preview (a bad omen ?) Note that Itchy and Scratchy are doing what the girls are doing - pushing the other into the pool and the fridge falling on to the head... or rather the girls are doing what they are doing.

8. Many things happen here: Yeri is at the head of the table with a cereal box ( hopefully containing cereal - spoiler; screws ) , Seulgi and Irene lying under Wendy’s hospital bed ( hint )

9.  Yeri is at the head of the table, with a box of cereals in her hand; except that Yeri is feeding them metal screws, wanting to kill the rest. She later on pours the screws into a bowl ( the screws are the colours of the members ).

10. Irene and Seulgi look at each other - hinting a conspiracy between them to kill Wendy.

11. The real murder comes when Irene and Seulgi push Wendy’s hospital bed towards a road, and an incoming car hits her. At the same time, Seulgi distracts Joy and cuts the rope with the fridge to let the fridge fall onto Joy.

and then they all start dancing ( a celebratory dance? lol) and DEAD WENDY SITS ON THE BED. and joy loses the game too. note that a ball rolls down where Seulgi’s dominoes are, showing that someone else has lost.

12. Wendy and Seulgi push a piano down the stairs, where Irene and Joy are sitting at the bottom of the stairs playing Cat’s cradle ( a game where two people have to untie a piece of string using their hands) . But the piano is facing only in Joy’s direction. When they solve the puzzle, the piano is pushed towards Joy. Yeri and Joy throw tennis balls at Irene.

If you observe closely enough, Irene has been targeted, but she is the one that targets most of them, and of course, this makes her the ultimate winner.

  The mouse and the cat appear frequently in the MV too, but if you watch The Simpsons, it bears uncanny resemblance to Itchy and Scratchy/ Tom and Jerry. Note: Both Itchy and Scratchy / Tom and Jerry like to kill each other, because obviously the cat hates the mouse and wants to catch the mouse. Compared to Tom and Jerry, Itchy and Scratchy are more violent, which is why it appears often in the MV.

And so the MV ends with a door falling flat on the cat’s face.

Supposedly the game Irene and Joy were playing was called “cats’ cradle” so ..um CAT haha ok lol bad pun

 The creepy truth

 A South Korean fan came up with this theory thatt thei MV is linked to a Gangnam Subway station murder that happened recently on May 17th.  This case was strange as the killer and the women victims were stranger. The murderer confessed that he had been bullied by women and he killed the women to release his anger. Similarly, ‘Russian Roulette’ is related as there is a random chance of a person dying. Following up with the recent fan theory of ‘One of These Nights’ paying tribute to the Sewol Ferry Incident, it is no surprise that SM is using this song to promote feminism.

 It was titled Russian Roulette not only because of the origin of the actual game, but in Russia, there are 3 feminist singers that formed a band called ‘Pussy Riot’. This band used music to promote feminism, and they cover their heads when they perform, explaining Wendy’s instagram teaser as there is a picture at the bottom with someone covering their head with a pink headscarf.

 At the bottom of the teaser, the scary face keeps fans wondering. Now it is explained: Wendy’s birthday is in February, and on February 13th, several members of  ‘Pussy Riot’  sang a song to the Virgin Mary to ask them to take away Vladimir Putin’s song; once again emphasising of feminism. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/11/putin-russia-president-election-protests

 Again on Wendy’s teaser, there is a 9 and 7 shown around the poison bottle. The Orthodox encourages fertility and opposes feminism and ‘ sexual liberation’, requiring women to obey men. In 1917, Lenin supressed the Orthodox Church. Thus, this song signifies feminism and the end of gender inequality.

So overall, this MV is just a “harmless” game that they play to win their love. BUT HOW CAN ANYONE MAKE MURDER LOOK SO CUTE GOSH SERIOUSLY.

6M views in 2 days ? not surprising :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslJYDX3o8s - WATCH RED VELVET’S “RUSSIAN ROULETTE” to spot all the theories . THANKS FOR READING !

lemme just end with seulbear jjang