Russian Roulette

"Russian Roulette" is a song by South Korean girl group Red Velvet for their third extended play of the same name. Written by Jo Yoon-kyung and produced by Albi Albertsson, Belle Humble and Markus Lindell, it is primarily an 8-bit influenced synth-pop and dance-pop song which lyrically compares the process of winning someone's heart to a game of Russian roulette. The song was released as the lead single on September 7, 2016, by SM Entertainment along with an accompanying cartoon-themed music video which saw the group mimicking cartoon tricks to pull a prank and harm each other as the video progressed. "Russian Roulette" received generally favorable reviews from critics upon its release, both domestically and internationally for its brightness and being "devilishly satisfying". The music video also received attention for its semi-inspiration by The Simpsons' fictional animated television series, Itchy & Scratchy that masks violent and almost lethal pranks the members pulled on each other in a bright, bubbly and seemingly fun-filled video. Dazed Digital placed it at number six on their 20 Best K-pop Tracks of the Year and it won Best Music Video at the 2016 Melon Music Awards. The song also attained commercial success, peaking at number two on both Billboard's World Digital Songs chart and South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, which, at the time, were the group's highest rankings on both charts. It was among the group's best selling singles in their native country, being their second single to achieve more than 2,500,000 downloads as of May 2019. Background and release After the release of the group's second extended play The Velvet in March 2016, various news sites in South Korea reported in May that Red Velvet will have a summer comeback. Despite this, the album was postponed multiple times, causing the group members great stress before their label S.M. Entertainment finally announced its release in later September. The group released the first teaser on September 1, and then released several individual teasers of the group presented as collages on their official Instagram account throughout the week. The extended play, along with the music video for "Russian Roulette" was eventually released on September 7.