Five years after their debut as a Red Velvet sub-unit, K-pop artists IRENE & SEULGI returned with their second mini album, TILT. Red Velvet’s group concept explores two sides: their pop-oriented, bubbly “red” side and a more mature, R&B-ready “velvet” side. Sensual, smooth and thumping with synth, IRENE & SEULGI’s six-track second album is velvet, through and through. Dance-pop lead single “TILT” opens with hazy piano ornamentation and vocal ad-libs before coming closer, building to its hypnotic “tilt, tilt, tilt, tilt” hook of a chorus. Its thematic focus on companionship as powerfully symbiotic rather than cutthroat embodies the duo’s public persona, first firmed up with the dubstep duality of 2020’s “Monster”. TILT’s tracks—including the ’90s-inspired R&B song “What’s Your Problem?”, which briefly invites KISS OF LIFE rapper JULIE to the team—continue to centre the assured, playful vocal interplay IRENE and SEULGI have established after more than a decade as K-pop co-members.