Red Velvet to expand to Japan as the "Nation's Girl Group"

Red Velvet is planning to expand to Japan.

According to SM Entertainment, Red Velvet will officially debut in Japan on July 4. The girl group will release its Japanese debut album "#Cookie Jar" on the day, and the album will have a total of 6 songs including Japanese versions of "Dumb Dumb", "Russian Roulette" and "Red Flavor".

Red Velvet has been regarded as one of the most promising and popular young k-pop girl groups since its debut in 2014. However, unlike other top class young girl groups such as TWICE and BLACKPINK, who have already debuted in Japan, Red Velvet has focused on its activities in Korea. It was quite unexpected because all the k-pop agencies hope to expand their business to Japan, which has the second largest music market in the world, and SM has enough capital to support Red Velvet's activities in the country.

Even though some people might think Red Velvet decided to expand to Japan too late, what's very impressive is that SM didn't hurry to make the girl group debut in the country and earn money. SM has waited until Red Velvet achieved all the things in Korea. What did the girl group achieve in Korea? You know, the girl group gained consecutive succeed with its hits such as "Dumb Dumb", "Russian Roulette" and "Red Flavor", establishing itself as one of the most popular k-pop girl groups. And recently, the girl group was invited to the peace concert held in North Korea, proving its great popularity.

There are so many k-pop idol groups, and unlike what foreign fans might think, most of old Korean people even don't know them. However, by participating in the peace concert, Red Velvet could appeal to those people. It was a very symbolic event that Red Velvet was invited to the concert as the representative k-pop girl group.

It could be too early to call Red Velvet the "Nation's Girl Group", of course, because the girl group still has a long way to go to become like Girls' Generation, the girl group's label mate. However, it's true there are many people who began to think of Red Velvet as the "Nation's Girl Group" after the peace concert. That's why I expect the girl group will make a very successful debut in Japan. Japanese k-pop fans also know how Red Velvet is doing well these days, and they know that Red Velvet is now the hottest girl group in Korea.

Anyway, I wish success to the 5 pretty and talented girls.