Fans May Have Uncovered The Truth Behind Why Red Velvet – Irene & Seulgi’s “Monster” MV Was Suddenly Delayed

Much to the dismay of fans, Red Velvet’s much-awaited subunit with Irene and Seulgi was subject to multiple delays—including one of the very day of release. Now, fans think they may have uncovered the reason why the “Monster” music video didn’t drop until 18 hours after it was supposed to.

SM Entertainment had previously announced that both Red Velvet – Irene & Seulgi’s Monster album and the title track music video would be released on July 6 at 6:00PM Korean Standard Time. However, when the time came, the music video was nowhere to be seen.

After 6 hours of silence, SM Entertainment eventually announced that the release of the music video had been delayed until 12:00PM KST on July 7—but they never gave an explanation regarding why. Now, after some digging, fans think they may have found the answer.

“Monster” was rated 15 for its mature themes, including scenes of horror and violence. In some clips, for example, Seulgi can be seen brandishing a gun. This shot also made it into one of the music video teasers, but eagle-eyed ReVeluvs soon noticed that another scene from the teasers was strangely absent from the final music video.

This scene of Irene holding a knife to her face drove fans crazy in the “Monster” teaser—but watch the “Monster” music video closely, and you’ll notice it never actually appears.

As a result, fans are speculating that the “Monster” music video may have originally contained highly violent scenes that were deemed unsuitable for broadcasting, forcing SM Entertainment to edit them out at the last minute.

Showing a knife in a music video is likely no problem in itself. After all, Red Velvet’s “Peek-a-Boo” music video features a multitude of sharp weapons.

However, a short clip from the “Monster” making video shows another “lost” shot where knives are embedded in the wall behind Irene. This alludes to a possible knife-throwing scene.

Likewise, fans noticed that one shot from the music video is framed in a very unusual way. This scene is cut to look like Irene is stabbing a piece of paper with scissors. However, some pointed out how the bottom of the shot looks cut off, leading ReVeluvs to speculate that the original scene may have shown Irene stabbing Seulgi.

If either of these scenes involved the members drawing blood with weapons, it’s possible SM Entertainment may have needed to edit them out to keep the music video’s 15 age rating. Fans supported the theory by pointing out that while the “Peek-a-Boo” music video shows Seulgi bleeding after Irene holds up a razor blade, Irene was never shown directly cutting Seulgi.

Thankfully for ReVeluvs, the “Monster” music video is racking up views despite the initial delay. Whether there really was an original video with darker scenes is still unconfirmed, but it’s a fairly solid theory.