[Review] Baby, Not Baby – SEULGI (Red Velvet)

For some reason, in my mind, I have been reviewing just only SM Entertainment releases. That isn’t true, but I will be continuing this mindset with more SM Entertainment releases from the last couple of weeks to still review. One of them is SEULGI’s long-awaited solo return with Baby, Not Baby, the title track off her 2nd mini-album, Accidentally on Purpose. Her last solo release occurred in 2023, where she debuted with 28 Reasons (title of both her solo debut mini-album and debut single).

Baby, Not Baby is a cool song. It has a complete different aesthetic and sound to SEULGI’s debut single, showcasing variety in her discography and confidence in doing something different. Baby, Not Baby is a pop dance track, with a blend of orchestral and rock elements that come together to give the song a groovy and funky sound profile. I like the boldness that comes from the instrumental, especially when the orchestral elements give off a dramatic flair. This complements well with SEULGI’s sassy and attitude-heavy delivery style. Altogether, Baby, Not Baby has so much oomph and character. In addition to be sassy and attitude heavy, SEULGI manages to infuse a lot of charisma into her vocals, which just makes Baby, Not Baby‘s hooks very appealing and catchy. Personally, I was searching for a rap sequence of some kind, perhaps someone featuring in the song who could have given Baby, Not Baby more edge and heightened that sassiness mentioned earlier. While I did like the vocal-forward approach of the song and SEULGI does slip into a rapping motif at time (although briefly), I just felt that was a missing piece of the puzzle that is Baby, Not Baby.

The song itself is about how someone may appear innocent and pure to their lover, but they might not be in reality. The music video portrays SEULGI doing something innocent and cute, but then she switches it up to show her wild side soon after. For example, at the start of the video, she appears injured and about to be hit by a car. But she ends up smashing the car to get someones attention. In the next scene, she gives out free hugs to people in the mall, but no one wants one. She throws a fit, but uses that to capture the ‘perfect selfie’ and disregards everyone around her. We see her smash up a shop soon after. Overall, SEULGI’s acting was pretty good and I enjoyed watching the bold nature of the music video. The video did well in bringing that edgy factor that I wanted in the song to life in a visual manner.

I liked how engaging the performance from multiple standpoints. SEULGI showed off a very confident and sassy vibe that made the focus on her more exciting. I liked how the dancers added to the stage presence of the performance. And the moves showed off a mature and sexy vibe, without it going into that stereotypical domain of showing skin or looking explicit.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9/10