Red Velvet leader Irene has made her solo debut with the release of her first mini-album ‘Like A Flower’.
The mini-album was released alongside a music video for its lead single of the same name. In the clip, Irene is listening to a cassette tapes in the back of a parked mini-van, which is equipped with audio equipment as she spies on and records a girl on her way to give a boy a bouquet of flowers. She’s revealed to have stacks upon stacks of similar tapes shelved in the van.
“I’m growing like a flower, unlocking superpowers / I’m singing in the shower, happiness blooms and flowers / It’s more than just a visual, courage to be more gentle / Wrap myself in my compassion, I’m gon’ be alright,” she sings on the chorus.
In an interview with The Korea Times following the album’s release, Irene described ‘Like A Flower’ as an “an album [where] I’ve deeply contemplated on the story that I wanted to tell so I want to share it with the world as soon as possible”. She continued: “While I have some lingering feelings, I’ve prepared it to the best of my ability.”
With this, Irene becomes the fourth Red Velvet member to go solo, following bandmates Wendy, Joy and Seulgi. Wendy was the first to go solo with her debut mini-album ‘Like Water’ in 2021, followed by Joy with the ‘Hello’ remake album that same year. Seulgi was the most recent Red Velvet member to go solo with her mini-album ’28 Reasons’ released in October 2022.
Previously, Irene and Seulgi became the band’s first official sub-unit in 2020 with the release of the duo’s mini-album ‘Monster’. It featured a title track of the same name and another hit single ‘Naughty’.
Completed by youngest member Yeri, Red Velvet last released music as a full group earlier this year in June, with the release of their seventh mini-album ‘Cosmic’. In celebration of the band’s 10th anniversary, the five-piece released a new version of the mini-album on August 1 to include a new fan-dedicated song ‘Sweet Dreams’.
