“RBB (Really Bad Boy)” is a Korean song recorded by Red Velvet. It is the first track in the group's fifth mini-album, RBB. The single and its music video was released on November 30, 2018. An English version of the track was included on the same album.
"RBB (Really Bad Boy)" was composed and produced by Kenzie, producer Timothy 'Bos' Bullock, singer-songwriter Sara Forsberg (known professionally as SAARA) and MZMC. In an interview with Balloon Days, Bullock revealed that "RBB" was the last song to be composed, without knowing "who the songs were going to end up going to" during his 2-week writing camp at Seoul, Korea. The demo version was originally guided by Bullock himself and co-composer Forsberg, with additional Korean lyrics written by Kenzie after. An additional English version was also recorded and included as the last track on the EP.
Musically, the song was described as an "addictive" R&B and dance-pop track, with certain influence from hip-hop music and a jazzy bridge. Kevan Kenney of Billboard described "RBB" as the sequel to their previous single "Bad Boy" with "funky beat and brassy horns". With a tempo of 150 beat-per-minute, "RBB" is a fast verse-chorus form song in the key of D minor. According to producer Bullock, he "wanted to create something with lots of fun energy" which made the listeners "want to move", thus using 808's for the bass of the song. The main melody was played by a trumpet and a trombone, being one of the first songs produced by Bullock to use such elements. In addition, the bridge was said to take heavy influence on R&B and jazz music, which "would be a good contrast and add dynamics to the song", said the producer.
Lyrically, the song expresses the charm of a "bad boy" that attracts the girls' attention, no matter how all the other friends say. The group's vocals span from the low note B3 to the head voice note of D6 (D7 in exclamation, being the whistle/scream note by member Irene). Furthermore, the song is heavily ornamented with melisma and vocal harmonization, all of which appeared throughout the song - from the intro to the last head run by member Wendy.
Promotion and music video[]
To promote "RBB", a video teaser containing excerpts of the song was released on November 28, 2018, 2 days before the actual release date. A day after, Red Velvet held a special V Live broadcast in which they introduced the preview of all the songs before performing a small part of the choreography for "RBB". The group then performed the song live for the first time on the music program Music Bank, an hour before the official release time. It was then followed by performances on other music programs and year-end music awards, such as Show! Music Core, Inkigayo, and The Fact Music Awards.
The music video for "RBB" was choreographed by Janelle Ginestra, Kaycee Rice and Choi Sun-hee, while being directed by director Oui Kim of GDW production team. whom had previously worked with labelmate NCT on several of their releases. The "whimsical, move-infused" video features a Halloween-theme consists of a werewolf as the main protagonist - "bad boy" of the video chasing and haunting the girls while they are looking to find out the werewolf as well. Choreography scenes are incorporated throughout the video between different retro-inspired and horror-theme sets, with one of them referring to the 1980 film The Shining as members Irene and Yeri reprised the Grady twins image. In several scenes, a Howliwood (a wordplay on the verb "howl" and the famous Hollywood billboard) sign can be seen up close in the background as well.
Upon its release, the video received positive reacts from magazines and blogs such as Billboard, Idolator and Forbes. The "fun, creepy ascetic" video was regarded as a "B-movie schlock retrofitted to K-pop perfectionism", according to Forbes contributor Caitlin Kelley.
Charts[]
Weekly charts[]
Chart (2018)
Peak position
Japan (Billboard Japan Hot 100)
93
Singapore (RIAS Regional)
14
South Korea (Gaon Digital Chart)
10
South Korea (Kpop Hot 100)
7
US World Digital Song Sales (Billboard)
1
Monthly chart[]
Chart (2018)
Peak position
South Korea (Gaon Singles Chart)
25
Lyrics[]
Gallery[]
To view the RBB (Really Bad Boy) gallery, click here.
