Red Velvet have come back once again with 'ReVe Festival: Day 1', and their newest title track 'Zimzalabim', which is a divisive song between ReVeluvs and other K-pop fans alike. I'll be going through this entire album and sharing my thoughts on opinions on the production, sound, vocals, and most importantly what I liked about each of the songs.

Having been a fan of the cute side of Red Velvet - think Russian Roulette, Ice Cream Cake, & Power Up - so I'm interested to hear what Zimzalabim has to offer, as I've heard it's one of the weirdest-composed K-pop songs ever, if not the strangest. As always, I'm up for listening to anything, so I have high hopes Zimzalabim can deliver.

0:15 - The song starts off airy and spacious with cowbells and some light guitars which is a nice entry into what I will assume is a busy and bubbly song.
0:22 - Already there’s so much happening in the composition, there’s a lot of cowbells, synths, drums, and of course vocals. It all sounds very circus-like which I guess is this album’s aesthetic.
0:26 - I love the bright and poppy vocals here combined with the high stings.
0:51 - The cowbells come back, and now Seulgi is singing with so much echo and reverb that the airy and spacious environment the cowbells made in the beginning of the song sound even wider, it’s such a simple composition but works so well.
1:07 - And back into a verse similar to how verse 1 began with the same type of instrumentals and bright and cheery vocals, so far I like the bright and circus-like vibe this song is giving off.
1:30 - The circus-like theme is only amplified even more by the drums and rising tension of instruments, as well as the “Are you ready?” which is some serious integration into a pantomime sort of experience that you’d get from watching a circus show.
1:45 - This chorus’ instrumentals I swear are a bit busier than the previous one’s, there’s clapping now and a lot more going on in the composition.
2:14 - Everything slows down here for a bridge which I think is great as so far the song has been really fast-paced and bright, so a small ballad-like break is greatly welcomed.
2:39 - In this final chorus, Red Velvet just pop off on the vocal harmony, the instrumentals are all fully blown out and it makes for an amazing finale to the song.

0:15 - An interesting low and bassy instrumental to compliment the feminine vocals here.
0:43 - I absolutely love this airy harmony, it’s so vibrant and fresh.
0:56 - The harmony is so great here, the instrumentals have a reggae feel to them which gives a great welcoming and calm vibe to the chorus.
1:24 - I like the subvocals to give the main vocals some more body here.
2:09 - I love how much harmonies this song uses, it’s so unifying for all the members’ voices.
2:52 - I feel like this song is just a choir set from Red Velvet and I’m all for it, the chorus harmonies will never get tiring.

0:13 - Very lowkey instrumentals combined with sultry vocals, this is quite a different vibe to the previous two tracks.
0:36 - A lot of clicks and bells in this pre chorus which is a nice progression for the instrumentals.
0:46 - I like how the chorus stays fairly lowkey with the soulful harmonies from the girls, and maintains a low instrumental signature.
1:16 - These high notes in the “I like it like milkshake” are so nice to hear.
2:30 - I like how this part of the bridge is similar to the prechorus in that clicks and bells are introduced to lead to an explosive transition into the next section of the song. I love this production choice.

0:19 - In contrast to the previous tracks, this track is so low and rumbly in the instrumentals and the vocals are so loud this time around.
0:53 - I love the harmony here, it’s so airy and roomy.
1:23 - This song remains so lowkey and vocal-heavy which I enjoy as Red Velvet have top-tier vocals.
1:44 - I noticed this song relies a lot on vocal progression and repeat lyrics a lot which continues the tension of the song and progresses the song forward a lot. It’s got a similar style to Zimzalabim with these unconventional production choices and compositional design.
2:56 - This song almost has a chant-like ending, it’s so repetitive and the instrumentals are no exception, definitely resembles Zimzalabim a lot.

0:10 - This song has a very retro vibe to it, the vocals are so soft and the instrumentals are very bright and poppy.
0:30 - There’s so much synthwork going on the instrumental which makes the already bright vocals so poppy and vibrant.
0:51 - Definitely circus feel, it’s so bright and vibrant, the instrumentals are so electronic and arcade-like with the tones.
1:37 - I find the prechorus so cute, it’s got such a cute instrumental signature and the high vocals compliment it so well.
2:27 - I love the harmony here, it seems Red Velvet’s B-side tracks for this album emphasise on harmonies a lot to focus on the circus-like atmosphere of the album.

0:25 - Very jazzy verse so far, has similar vibes to Sunny Side Up.
0:53 - This chorus is so airy and vibrant, there’s a lot of echo and synthetic subvocals, and the instrumentals are so authentic which is a nice contrast in the composition.
2:30 - JAZZ. The saxophone solo is so rich and vibrant, and I love how it continues throughout the bridge to compliment the vocals.

Zimzalabim was definitely a strange song. It has an unusually catchy and mysterious chorus, combined with a unique and bubbly array of verses. The song switched up its composition and tone on so many occasions and it was mildly disorienting, but I guess that's what makes the song so fun to listen to, it's so unique and definitely a song I associate with Red Velvet. It's such a brave production choice and I love it.

As for the rest of the album, I got really circus-like vibes and some minor R&B reggae vibes too, it definitely makes for the whole festival vibe that the album seems to be going for.  Sunny Side Up and Milkshake in particular I liked, both were consistent in terms of composition throughout the song, the vocals were so on point, especially when they harmonized in sections of the songs. Red Velvet have outstanding vocals, and ReVe Festival Day 1 was no exception.

The ReVe Festival saga also has two more parts which I will also be listening to at a later date, so I'm looking forward to seeing what those have to offer.