SEULGI Cranks Up the Intensity on “28 Reasons”
SEULGI/ SM Entertainment
Near the end of SEULGI’s ambitious and unnerving EP “28 Reasons”, the singer ironically embraces the warmth of Los Angeles sun.
Escaping the cold of a lover who’s betrayed her, SEULGI lands in a city full of alluring, intoxicating dreams; of fragile hopes that unfold like delicate skeleton flowers. Here, SEULGI stands outside in the dim hours of the morning as the sun rises. She’s been out all night. She’s feeling hope and a little bit of mischievousness.
“I’m lost in Los Angeles,” she sings before one of the filthiest beats drops that SM has ever produced and adds coyly,“I’m loving it.” As the song spills out to a sonic heaven, it’s easy to imagine losing yourself to it on a dance floor. “Los Angeles'' is striking not just because of its production but because it pulls together a feeling of rage that underlies every track on “28 Reasons”. Its the peak of an EP that deconstructs the psychosis of a woman out for revenge and intent on causing destruction. She seeks chaos and to make listeners uncomfortable, or at the very least, sit on the edge of their seat.
“I kiss your brother/ I steal that heart,” she admits icily in the opening title track. “You can’t even feel that poison.” SEULGI’s archetype takes joy in seeing her lover in pain and in putting him in a compromising position. “I have no bad intentions,” she says, but sometimes revenge is a bitch. “I will ruin you and save you,” she warns. She acknowledges that her lover is in danger. “But it’s okay because you’re grown up.”
Love can fuck you up. Plan accordingly.
SEULGI’s EP is one that charts a familiar course for Red Velvet fans, known as Reveluvs. Throughout her time in the group, SEULGI has embraced the cliches of a girl who loves the bad boy or of a woman who becomes a psycho because of obsession. For the past eight years, Red Velvet have mined the theatrical performance of “love”. Perhaps most important, the members have authentically sold their concepts of destruction because of each members’ commitment to embodying the comeback’s required emotions like a skilled actress.
As a result, SEULGI has become the reigning empress of the weird and twisted in K-Pop. On her sub-unit EP with Red Velvet’s IRENE, she hailed herself as “a little monster”. Her hugely powerful voice can project nearly any emotion: fear, revulsion, happiness, and joy. She’s a quiet presence on social media, but she can rip apart a song.
But on this EP SEULGI has instead dialed back the performative and instead focused on the interior world of betrayal. In doing so, she pumps the intensity up by several notches. She prowls her lover like a tiger, dangerous when provoked, intent on devouring him like unsuspecting prey.
SEULGI is particularly proud of “Dead Man Walking”, a song which she wrote herself and is the first of hers that has been published. SM is notoriously tough on which songs are chosen for an album, and Seulgi’s was chosen “blind”, meaning the company didn’t know it was her composition when it was selected.
“It’s a warning to those who hurt me,” she said cryptically when asked about the lyrics. Her writing is strikingly visceral and specific. “There’s a demon smiling inside of me,” she tells her ex. “How does it feel?”
SEULGI’s producer Yoo Young-in worked collaboratively with her during the recording of “28 Reasons” to capture the “aloofness” she desired for the record. Under Yoo’s direction, SEUGLI’s fury would be felt rather than heard. Yoo would encourage SEULGI to sing as if she were in an emotionally charged conversation. “The recording went through changes after changes,” she said at the album’s press conference. “And it also required so much different acting. I'd be like 'I want to destroy you' at one moment, and next, I'll be, 'I don't actually want to hurt you.'”
SM Entertainment
SEULGI was conscious not just of the music, though. She had specific visuals in mind for the music video. Instead of the CGI format of many contemporary K-Pop videos, SEULGi preferred something minimalistic and confining. In the music video for “28 Reasons”, SEULGI wakes up in a field chained to an unknown force. No matter where she goes, the chain follows her.
"The music video draws out the self-conflict unfolding inside a dream,” she explained. “I show the good and bad conflicting with each other as I dream."
“28 Reasons” makes a strong case for why SEULGi is a dynamic artist whose work exists in multi-mediums, from performance to music to the visual presentation. As she’s grown in her performance, she’s transformed into someone who can convey ferociousness, femininity, and perhaps most crucially, vulnerability.
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Who is the real SEULGI?
In her bedroom, sometimes visible on livestreams, sits a giant teddy bear. Sometimes I think of this obsolete fact when I remember that SEULGI’s remained mysterious for years because she’s revealed only half of herself to us. But I don’t know if the question matters. The singer’s ability to transform into multiple types of women and push her music into darker, grittier realms makes her a compelling force; someone who can easily play new roles and rise above our expectations.
What the most dynamic K-Pop idols do is sell us a fantasy. But occasionally, artists like SEULGI push themselves to the edge and demonstrate how the “performance” of the grene can be extraordinarily compelling. Each song on “28 Reasons” pushes SEULGI closer to freedom and farther from the middle of the genre.
“I make all your dreams come true,” she reminds us midway through “28 Reasons”. As an idol, SEULGI’s job is to sell fantasy but on her first EP, she learns that selling a nightmare can be even more alluring.
