Russian Roulette (Red Velvet song)

After the release of the group's second extended play The Velvet in March 2016, various news sites in South Korea reported in May that Red Velvet will have a summer comeback. Despite this, the album was postponed multiple times, causing the group members great stress before their label S.M. Entertainment finally announced its release in later September.[2][3][4] The group released the first teaser on September 1, and then released several individual teasers of the group presented as collages on their official Instagram account throughout the week. The extended play, along with the music video for "Russian Roulette" was eventually released on September 7.[5]

Following the song's release, the group revealed that they had heard the song when they were still trainees (which indicated the song was written long before their debut), unaware that they will one day record and release it.[6] It was later revealed that "Russian Roulette", the 2017 single "Rookie" and the 2019 single "Zimzalabim" were potential lead single choices at the time for the girl group, but eventually it was chosen to be released first by the label.[7][8]

"Russian Roulette" was composed and produced by Albi Albertsson, Belle Humble and Markus Lindell, with Korean lyrics adaptation by songwriter Jo Yoon-kyung. Bradley Stern of PopCrush characterized it as a perky, retro-sounding electro-pop tune.[1] It is considered as the group's first single that is a mixture between their "Red" and "Velvet" style, composed in the key of E-flat major with a tempo of 130 beats per minute. The song's lyrics compares the challenge of winning someone's affection to a game of Russian roulette.

Originally recorded in Korean for the group's third extended play in September 2016, Red Velvet also recorded the song in Japanese for the group's debut Japanese release on July 4, 2018, with Japanese lyrics adaptation from songwriter Kami Kaoru.[9]

Upon its release, "Russian Roulette" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Writing for The Daily Dot, Sherly Tucci called it a "cute and bubbly song complemented by the bright colors of the music video". She also said that the members' sugar-coated voices in conjunction with an upbeat melody "make it impossible not to bob your head to the music".[17] In her interview with the group, Taylor Glasby of Dazed Digital said the music video "has a sinister combination of sweetness and threat" and remarked that "it's hard to think of anyone else that could pull off those kinds of concepts". The song was eventually included in their 20 Best K-Pop Tracks of the Year, ranking at number six and the site called it a "devilishly satisfying" track with a "memorable chorus and crazily joyous synth breakdown" that "sneaks in with robotic stuttering, doing a lot to break up the sweet but tonally deliberately narrow vocals".[23][24] Tone Glow also put it at number nine on their 30 Best K-pop Songs of 2016 list, stating that its chipper "heart b-b-beats" and arcade noises grant the song a bright sheen.[25]

However, Chester Chin of the Malaysian news site The Star felt that the single and the album was somewhat a disappointment after the "brilliant experimental vibes" of their last EP The Velvet, which was released in the same year. He commented that the song was "a fun and glossy dance-pop number" with "infectious hooks and bubbly rhythms" but claimed that the album's tracks "lacked the edge and quirks" of their other singles such as "Ice Cream Cake" and "Dumb Dumb".[26]

The song achieved both domestic and international success. On the week of September 10, 2016, the song made its appearance at number three on the Gaon Digital Chart before rising to number two where it peaked the following week, tying with "Dumb Dumb" as the group's highest-charting single in South Korea at the time.[27][28] Moreover, "Russian Roulette" also reached number two and number three on the Gaon Download Chart and Gaon Streaming Chart, respectively.[29][30] It ended up as the 39th best-selling single on the 2016 Gaon Year-End Digital Chart. The song also appeared on the newly refunctioned Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 in 2017, peaking at number seventy on the chart's first week ranking.[31] In 2018, Gaon reported that the song has had over 100 million streams.[32] In May 2019, Gaon reported that the song has had over 2,500,000 downloads, thus became their second song to achieve such milestone following Red Flavor.[33]

"Russian Roulette" also achieved success in the United States as it reached a peak of number two on Billboard's World Digital Songs chart.[34] As of December 2019, it is the group's third best selling single in the States, having achieved a cumulative sales of 24,000 downloads.[35]

Along with the 2019 single "Zimzalabim", the song made its appearance during the dance-off scene in the 2020 Trolls World Tour, in which the members were also part of the cast, portraying the "K-Pop gang".[36]

Credits adapted from Russian Roulette liner notes[14]

• List of M Countdown Chart winners (2016)
• List of Inkigayo Chart winners (2016)