Song Review: Red Velvet – Irene & Seulgi – Tilt

Red Velvet’s Irene and Seulgi made their unit debut all the way back in 2020, spawning two singles backed by high gloss fashion and plenty of charisma. Five years later, they’ve returned with a new mini album and the club-ready title track Tilt. Along with Seventeen’s Thunder, today seems to be the day for dance music anchored by spoken-word choruses.

To be fair, Tilt has more going on in its verses and pre-chorus. The song does a nice job building energy and atmosphere, drawing upon the strength of the ladies’ vocals to craft plenty of texture. The ascending melodies during the verses add great tension as the instrumental eggs them on. Stabs of synth and piano ornamentation pepper the production with extra intrigue just when it needs it, raising expectations for what’s to come. Unfortunately, this is where Tilt bunts when it could have aimed for a homerun. Ambition is currently very low in K-pop so I’m probably a fool for expecting more, but the song’s spoken “tilt tilt tilt” still feels like a big missed opportunity.

On the plus side, the vocal production is quite nice during this segment and I appreciate how the instrumental continues to churn even as the melody flatlines. Things could certainly be worse, but looking back at SM Entertainment’s storied past they could also be so much stronger. This evens out to a song that’s equally satisfying and frustrating, buoyed by Irene and Seulgi’s obvious star power. It’s an easy track to admire but never generous enough to love. It keeps its listeners at an arm’s length, and I guess there’s some charm to that prickly approach.

Grade: B-