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Red Velvet's Joy to make solo debut with remake album, SM Entertainment slammed for 'not giving her an original'

Joy joined the group in 2014 and will be the second artist from Red Velvet after Wendy who will make her solo debut

K-pop girl group Red Velvet’s member Joy is all set for a brand new album in the form of a solo effort. Fans will get to tune into the singer’s new full-length project at some time by the end of May 2021, as confirmed by the group’s management SM Entertainment. However, the yet untitled album will be a remake of a medley of songs.

Red Velvet was on a hiatus for a year in 2020 due to Wendy's accident until all the five members — Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy and Yeri performed at SMTOWN Live's "Cultural Humanity" online concert in January 2021. The online concert was streamed live on SM Entertainment's official YouTube Channel, SMTOWN. The news of Joy’s solo album, however, did not go down well with a lot of social media users as they slammed SM Entertainment for sabotaging Red Velvet’s future.

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Red Velvet’s Joy gears up for solo debut album

According to the website KopStarz, SM Entertainment had released a short official statement on Joy’s debut solo album saying that she is currently preparing to make a remake album. They did not share the release date or the debut schedule but promised that they will release a detailed schedule very soon. Joy, who joined the group in 2014, will be the second artist from Red Velvet who will make her solo debut. Wendy from the same group had dropped her debut solo effort in April 2021 with a mini-album called ‘Like Water’. The album was stacked with five songs with one featuring Red Velvet member Seulgi titled ‘Best Friend’.

Joy, who is known for her hit singles like ‘Always in My Heart, ‘Young Love’, ‘First Christmas’ and ‘Mayday’, has also acted in Korean dramas. She made her acting debut in 2017 as a female lead in the music-based drama ‘The Liar and His Lover’. The 24-year-old crooner is also known for releasing original soundtracks for her TV shows. ‘Yeowooya’, ‘I'm Okay’, ‘Your Days’, ‘Shiny Boy’, ‘Waiting For You’ and ‘The Way to Me’ are some of her best songs from the small screen. Since she has an extensive discography, there are chances that her remake solo debut album might come with remixes from her own previous singles.

‘Disappointed that SM is sabotaging EXO comeback and Joy solo’

Moments after news of Joy’s solo project hit the Internet, the loyal fan army stormed Twitter in order to slam SM Entertainment over rushing things and sabotaging Joy’s solo debut with a remake album. Speaking on the same lines, one user posted, “I hate SM from the bottom of my heart they're probably making joy debut to conceal the lack of Red Velvet group comeback. I'm still happy she's debuting but it pisses me off how other SM solo artist had their right promo when debuted while red velvet are getting crumbs.” Another furious fan stated, “So kinda shit that joy is getting a solo that’s full of covers as if red velvet doesn’t bring money in for SM that they couldn’t at least give her one original.”

The next one posted, “Red Velvet kinda going downhill rn so they shoving a joy solo debut to distract me..... it’s working.” Another tweeted, “SM doesn't really want "more money". even if exo gets 600k sales, they will make money out of them because sm doesn't promote them, they don't have to invest. the reason for this sabotage is to not let exo outshine the other sm artists. that's it.” Another user asserted, “Disappointed that SM is sabotaging exo comeback and joy solo in one night they have always been neglected and i dont understand y joy couldnt have a proper debut but just a solo album of remakes they rlly dont care abt exo or red velvet.”

Echoing similar sentiments, one fan concluded, “What is up with SM and rushing the girls’ solo debuts tho? like they rushed wendy’s promotions and the schedule management was terrible and now its mid-may they are rushing joy’s album for the upcoming 2 weeks with a remake album.. sm why are you handling these poorly.” Yet another wrote: "but seriously sm is sht for not letting joy have her original songs, instead she gets remakes for her solo debut. Despite that I know she will be badass queen she is and eat up the whole assignment, im so excited but can't ignore the anger i have towards esem".