YMMV / Red Velvet

• Accidental Innuendo: Typically, "happiness" is pronounced with emphasis on "ha." In the song "Happiness", emphasis was shifted to "pi", thus sounding more like, "Ha, penis!"
• Awesome Music: Known far and wide for this. One of their nicknames among both fans and the general public is "trust and listen singers." Check the page out.
• Big in Japan: In these examples, literally in Japan. But go to any lyric video for a Japanese RV song and count how many comments from Japanese fans are about how they love Seulgi(-chan) and how beautiful she is. You'll also find staggeringly many Japanese fans praising Joy's singing.^note Although, as noted in the main page, all the Red Velvet members are widely considered above-average in visuals and talent, Seulgi is normally praised for her talent most. Joy is best-known for her sensual beauty. That said, both of them are considered visuals and lead vocals, but it's interesting to note that they are most popular among this particular audience, as Irene and Wendy are generally marketed as the visual and vocal respectively.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Though Red Velvet are no strangers to Mind Screw videos, "Bad Boy" has a mostly cohesive aesthetic. Sleek, elegant, sensual. And then there's a brief scene of Yeri atop a colorful, inflatable unicorn...
• Broken Base:
  • The choices of their title tracks are polarizing most of the times.
  • Yeri's addition to the group. While the majority of fans welcomed her right away due to bringing more variety talent and a brighter concept to the group, some others (referred to as OT4 fans) still complain about her presence and say she brings nothing useful to the group, citing various things she's said to the members and her performances on-stage.
  • Irene's gapjil scandal. Many fans were disappointed and hurt, especially as more and more insiders came out against her (establishing her attitude as not a one-off incident) and how Irene only apologized due to the stylist threatening to release the incriminating recording. Some fans, however, said she may have had a bad day and that the incident isn't as black and white as people are making it out to be, citing the fact that there are insiders coming to Irene's defense and how Irene made a personal apology towards the stylist in question.
• Cargo Ship: Seulgi x Pringles, or food in general, really.
• Covered Up: Many fans, especially international ones, do not realize that "Be Natural" is a Cover Version of an S.E.S. song.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • Because Red Velvet debuted shortly after f(x) abruptly suspended promotions for their summer comeback, "Red Light", many fans of f(x) suspect that their debut was to redirect attention away, and that Red Velvet was made as their replacement group. The animosity is heightened even more so due to SM Entertainment underpromoting f(x) since their debut.
  • Red Velvet also became the subject of ire among Girls' Generation fans, as their second single, "Be Natural" was quickly released after news surrounding Jessica's scandal. Similarly, because Red Velvet covered "Be Natural", which was originally a song by S.E.S., there has been many a comparison about who did it "better."
  • With both TWICE and BlackPink, the other two most popular girl groups from the third generation and former competitors for the title of "National Girl Group" (which Twice won in 2017). As of The New '20s, the three-way fan war does not impact Red Velvet anywhere near as much as the other two due to SM Entertainment not pushing Red Velvet to compete with them on an international scale, instead mainly promoting fourth-generation girl group aespa. The three groups actually get along very well with one another and many fans have even expressed their desire to see "BlackVelvet" happen.
• Fan Nickname: Boy, where to begin. The fans pretty much come up with a new nickname at any given chance.
  • Irene: Mother/Grandma^note due to the age gap between her and the other members and the fact that she loves doing the laundry, Mommy, Bae Leader, Goddess of Peace, Game Goddess, Bae-Tokki^note Bae-Rabbit, Ending Fairy, Baechu^note Cabbage, Bae (from her real name, Bae Joohyun)^note and, you know, she is indeed a bae..., Baeby, Original Visual, Bae-phrodite, Korea's It Girl.
  • Seulgi: Gomdori/Seul-Gom^note Teddy bear and Seul-bear, Pikaseul, Kkangseul, Nabi (butterfly)^note she starred in labelmate Henry's MV "Butterfly", Slowgi/Sluggie, No-Jam, The Ace of SM/K-Pop, Gap-God/Gap-King^note Seulgi is possibly one of the most dorky, unassuming people on a day to day basis, but on stage she becomes a beast.
  • Wendy: Olaf, Wan, Angel-Wan, Wen-mom, Son Sweet, Smooth-Wan, Wanda, Squirrel, Hamster, Wan-Mongie^note Wan-Puppy, Best Vocalist of her Generation, Wenresa^note From Mother Theresa. Yeah, Wendy is that much of a good person.
  • Joy: Jwoy, Doodoongie, Satansoo, Byeongary^note Baby chick, Sexy Dynamite, K-Pop Girl in the Rainbow Dress, End-Of-Year Joy^note Joy often ends up doing collaboration stages on end-of-year shows, and inevitably goes viral every single time, Miss Korea, Joy Thee Stallion^note Coined after this legendary reaction to "Psycho".
  • Yeri: Squirtle, Otter, CEO Yerim, Yerm, Myemim, Yeriana Grande, Katy Kim, YR, Rim-ie, Lovelym ^note The ㄹ character in Korean can be read as either an R or a L, allowing for an easy incorporation of the last half of Yeri's name (-rim) into the word lovely.
  • Certain combinations of members also have nicknames. Joy and Yeri are the "Savage/Evil Maknaes" or "The demons" due to the amount of teasing they dish out towards the older members. Irene, Seulgi and Wendy are sometimes referred to as "Holy Trinity". Joy, Wendy and Seulgi are "Team Rocket" (specifically Joy is Jessie, Seulgi is James and Wendy is Meowth), while Irene and Yeri are "Mother and Daughter". Seulgi and Wendy are "The Soulmates", Business Friends, or "94s" from their birth year.
  • The group's name is usually shortened to "Revelies". Western fans also use "The Velvets", "The cake girls" or "The Booyah's"^note From the iconic cheer at the beginning of "Happness" while Korean Luvies have also gone with "Hyun-Gom-Wan-Doong-Yer"^note Parts of the girls' nicknames, following their age order. And "RV" doesn't only stand for Red Velvet, but also for Real Visuals, Real Vocals, Real Versatility, Real Vtalent...
  • They are known far and wide as "Trust and listen singers" or "B-side masters" for their impeccable discography and artistry. Which ties in quite well with another moniker given by the media that fans joyously latched onto: "The Nation's Pride".
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Interestingly, fans have developed a strong rapport with Blackpink fans, mostly due to the budding friendship between the groups, dubbed as BlackVelvet and fans happily calling themselves Revelinks. ^note Reveluv + Blink = Revelink(s)
  • Though there's some rivalry as well, with both Buddies and Pink Pandas, fans of (respectively) GFRIEND and Apink, due to the adorable friendship between Joy, Yerin and Hayoung. All three used to be schoolmates and still hang out whenever they can.
• Hype Backlash: Especially given that beauty is an incredibly subjective thing, and that Red Velvet are a group composed of universally pretty girls, there are many people who say "Irene isn't that pretty" in response to her perceived chokehold on the title of "prettiest member/woman in K-Pop as a whole." Most commonly, it's Ms. Fanservice Joy with her bee-stung lips and statuesque form who's proposed as an alternative "prettiest member of Red Velvet," then Seulgi. As for popular K-Pop beauties in general, there's also TWICE's Tzuyu and Girls' Generation's Yoona eliciting a very similar response to their looks as Irene does.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Oppa Hallelujah"^note Seulgi when asked what she'd say to charm a guy that likes to go to church.
  • "When the meat is cooked, you have to cook the meat" and "SM water tastes like water" - Wendy Son, 2017
  • PARK SOOYOUNG! WHEN YOU! LAUGH! I'M ALSO! HAPPY! (a legendary Joy fanboy)
  • Yeri kidnapping random children^note Yeri is the Friend to All Children trope personified, and it's guaranteed that, if the girls are doing something and she spots a baby or a toddler, she will drop whatever she's doing to go and coo at them. Her phone gallery is filled with pictures of random kids she comes across.
  • "When I first saw Irene unnie she was so pretty..." - Seulgi whenever asked to describe a trainee Irene.
  • Irene: full-time Yeri's mom, but she doesn't have a daughter like Joy.
  • Karma is a Reveluv^note On fan Twitter, whenever someone starts bashing Red Velvet for no other reason than being petty, a good news usually comes out minutes to hours later.
  • God bless Irene, the "Amor Fati" dance and Luvies having a blast with their editing softwares.
  • Please rise for our national anthem.
  • Wendy being one of SM's five legendary dancers.
  • Yeri's headphone meme. It went so viral, the original tweet has more views than some of their music videos.
  • Fame changed Yeri/Yeri looks so handsome here/variations thereof, on videos from their "Be Natural" era^note Yeri was not in the group back then, but label-mate Taeyong had a rap feature on the song, making him effectively the fifth member at the time instead of Yeri.
  • Yeri secretly being from Britain.
  • Seulgi and Wendy, the "business friends"^note When Wendy released her solo album and had Seulgi featuring on a song called, fittingly, Best Friend, they started joking about faking their friendship for the sole purpose of recording the song.
  • "wendy was born 11 days after seulgi because the universe knew she needed a soulmate"^note When it comes to Seulgi and Wendy's friendship, expect Luvies to post this comment somewhere. It became a copypasta in its own right.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • Wendy's gospel-like high note in the final chorus of "Kingdom Come".
  • Either Irene, Joy or Yeri's laughter. They're all just so contagious.
  • Their harmonies. Known far and wide to be one of the best vocal groups in K-Pop, and with good reason.
• Misaimed Fandom: Whether or not Seulgi and Irene's "Monster" video is queerbaiting is a very touchy topic anyway, with many WLW fans arguing it is (but often still supporting the girls) and expressing disappointment vs. others arguing that it isn't. But there's also a large third portion of WLW fans who say it is queerbaiting, but they will allow Seulgi and Irene to do so because they're attractive women.
• Narm: One of the reasons the English version for "RBB" didn't do half as well as the English version for "Bad Boy" did, with the latter going viral and attracting uniformly warm reception when a preview was released by KCON LA. Whereas "Bad Boy" doesn't shy away from the dark, sultry nature of the song, one of "RBB"'s opening lines for the English version is this: "Sipping on milk and chocolate sundaes."
• Narm Charm: A murderous cult of seductive, deadly women (who are implied to possess some sort of dark magical abilities) choosing to target pizza delivery boys is a concept that strikes many people as humorously absurd, if not flat-out incomprehensible; but the video for "Peek-a-Boo" manages to execute the conceit excellently, creating genuine Nightmare Fuel and successfully eliciting fright in those initially skeptical. There's also a wealth of ingenious, stylish imagery done with the cult's bizarre pizza fixation in the video, such as the scene where Joy and Wendy slot jewels into a pizza in a manner reminiscent of chess.
• Nightmare Fuel: Enough for its own page.
• Overshadowed by Controversy:
  • Their debut was rushed to cover up various scandals (most prominently, rumors of Sulli leaving f(x)) and resulted in Yeri, too young at the time, to be excluded from the line-up. Not only that, but the music video originally released for "Happiness" had newspaper clippings of the US bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as 9/11 references, which angered the Japanese and American press.
  • "Be Natural" was released around the time Jessica and Lu Han left Girls' Generation and EXO.
  • "Ice Cream Cake" was released at the same time Tao was rumoured to be leaving the group.
• She Really Can Act:
  • Joy's acting was praised in her debut role as an actress for The Liar and His Lover, but with Tempted, critics really started to notice how much she had improved. And it was only her second role.
  • Wendy got the role of Queen Poppy in the Korean version of Trolls World Tour. It was her first ever acting role, not to mention a dubbing one as the main character of a movie, and she did so good people were surprised SM had never let her do anything of the sort before. Then again...
• Signature Song:
  • "Happiness" is Red Velvet's debut song, and also used in their group introduction. Later, in the summer of 2017 "Red Flavor" gained them the unofficial "Summer Queens" title and got so popular South Korea played it everywhere even during winter.
  • For the velvet side, arguably, "Automatic" is this. Considered one of their best songs to date, it drew the attention of the international public and even among Korean fans it got them some of their most loyal fans, since it took a while for the velvet concept to become accepted and successful. "Bad Boy" also got them a ton of recognition in the western market.
• Squick: The lyrics of "Ice Cream Cake" are very suggestive, but Yeri, the maknae (youngest member of a K-Pop group), is too young to be singing them. At 16 years old, she would be underage in most of the US.
• Unnecessary Makeover: Wendy lost so much weight that netizens (aka some of the people that criticized her to begin with) expressed concern on how stick thin she's become. For the record, this is how she looked when they were calling her fat.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Back in 2014, the group appeared on a radio show and Wendy mentioned that having lived in a foreign country, she had learned to imitate both white and black people. Unfortunately, her "imitations" were borderline racist, in particular her comment about all black men being "gangster". Fans immediately began calling her out for it, citing that as she is Canadian born, she should really have known better. Unfortunately, the situation happened again in 2018, where after being asked to imitate a black woman, she chose to do a very stereotypical "Oh no she di'nt"/"sassy" reaction. Fans, again, were not pleased. Sure, it was during a recording for a show and she was asked about different accents and specific types of people, but the point still stands. The general consensus is that she's indeed a nice person and didn't have any ill intention, but she still should have learnt the first time.
  • Irene's gapjil scandal is also proving to be this, as Koreans have noted that a lot of nuance gets lost in translation from the stylist's original post. Couple that with the fact that a lot of what Irene did to the stylist (motioning for her to tie her shoe, pushing her head with her finger) is considered to be disrespectful but not really a big deal in the West as they are in Korea, and you just have a mess all around.
    • Her second apology is also proving to be this, especially when she wrote that she wasn't aware of how her behavior was being seen as rude/disrespectful. While this was seen as owning up to her personal flaws by most Korean fans, most Western fans saw it as a flimsy excuse. But the overall consensus is that while the fandom may never know how sincere her apology is, her behavior was inexcusable and that they hope Irene will turn over a new leaf.
• Win Back the Crowd: "Zimzalabim" is a base-breaking single of epic proportions. It was commercially successful and has some dedicated defenders, but also inspired much backlash, even from loyal Reveluvs. The backlash stems from Joy's baffling styling (locs on a non-Black Korean woman?) in the MV to the sheer So Bad, It's Good quality of... well, pretty much everything about the song/MV, if you ask those who hate it. "Zimzalabim" hate may even surpass that for "Rookie," which was previously their worst-received single. But the following single, "Umpah Umpah," brought relief to many fans. The next and final installment of their ReVe Festival catalogue, "Psycho," fully won back the crowd, both in terms of fan reception and commercial success.
• WTH, Costuming Department?:
  • Some of the outfits given to them are... quirky, to say the least.
  • Fans expected the worst to be over with the end of One Of These Nights promotions. Then Russian Roulette came along and...
  • Wendy seems to be stuck with the worst hairstyles. "Free Wendy's forehead" is a common, long-running joke within the fandom.