Recently, Red Velvet’s Wendy, widely recognized as a powerhouse vocalist by fans and professionals alike, unexpectedly faced criticism for her vocals during a recent live performance.
Wendy turned 30 on February 21 and celebrated the occasion with ReVeluvs (Red Velvet’s fanbase) through a concert, 2024 B-day PARTY – WENDY [HAPPY WENDY DAY]. The show took place on February 29, where the singer treated fans to spectacular live performances, including some surprise song and dance covers.
240229 웬디 생파
kehlani – honey pic.twitter.com/xBgZ88Hvm9
— Wㅘ니💙 (@SWani0221) February 29, 2024
240229 HAPPY WENDY DAY
River Cover#웬디 #Wendy #레드벨벳 #RedVelvet#30WENDYDAYPARTY#2024_웬디데이_파티 pic.twitter.com/C7W44MQVoI— Taek (@Taek0321) February 29, 2024
240229 웬디 생일파티 #웬디 #wendy
숲 🌳 pic.twitter.com/ulrt4ieX1R— 📓 (@_231009) March 1, 2024
One of the surprise song covers by Wendy at this concert was Beyoncé’s “Love On Top,” a song notoriously known to be very challenging for live singing. A short clip of the Red Velvet member’s live cover went viral on social media platforms, inviting criticism about how she sounded out of breath and strained.
One day ppl will stop trying to sing Beyoncé’s songs especially Love On Top pic.twitter.com/BDqG3BnZSU
— Bran (@yjkive) March 2, 2024
liiisten Wendy can sing down but NOBODY in kpop should be touching Love on Top 😭 https://t.co/7EinAKd3FQ
— a⁷ (@mommywheein) March 3, 2024
As the criticism grew, many came to Wendy’s defense, pointing out she had been performing multiple songs with choreographies, and hence, it was only expected that her vocal condition was not at its best by the time she got the “Love On Top” cover. Many also pointed out that the overall performance went quite well, and criticizing her vocals based on a few seconds wasn’t logical.
she sang like 7 different songs previous to this without a rest and did like 4 different dance challenges and she was literally doing the whole octave higher part in one breath and its a very hard song to sing as it is and weare supposed to think she is a bad singer?
— 🪡ɑׁׅ֮ᝯׁꪱׁׅժׁׅ݊ꪱׁׅᝯׁ🙏 (@raven_ism) March 2, 2024
she sang like 7 different songs previous to this without a rest and did like 4 different dance challenges and she was literally doing the whole octave higher part in one breath and its a very hard song to sing as it is and weare supposed to think she is a bad singer?
— 🪡ɑׁׅ֮ᝯׁꪱׁׅժׁׅ݊ꪱׁׅᝯׁ🙏 (@raven_ism) March 2, 2024
WENDY – Love On Top (by Beyonce)
*longer version, not just a 13sec clip*pic.twitter.com/9Xsm9GvfRp https://t.co/1rC4c5mKxB— 0310 (@einawgnues) March 3, 2024
240229
Wendy singing 🎤
Love On Top – Beyonce 💙#30WENDYDAYPARTY #2024_웬디데이_파티 #WENDY #웬디 pic.twitter.com/XAl8PhPeiT— 와니꺼 (@Wanniggeo) February 29, 2024
In fact, she performed a live cover of “Love On Top” very recently on Leemujin Service, which showcased her true range as a vocalist.
wendy – love on top
kpop’s main vocalist 💙 pic.twitter.com/Xd6ECqCO5W
— 슬린 (@seurrene_) November 10, 2023
Despite most netizens refuting the criticism against her vocals during the birthday concert, it seems that the singer herself could not settle with her personal dissatisfaction. So, after the show, she sent fans a voice recording of her singing the song once again through the fan communication app Bubble. She also posted a few messages expressing her disappointment and apologizing.
Wendy sent a voice message of her singing Love On Top. 🥺🥺🥺 pic.twitter.com/QJyRSXJIyq
— fran 🐯 (@wanmandu) February 29, 2024
Though it was clearly a case of a bad vocal day for Wendy, her trying to make it up for fans speaks volumes of her sincerity toward her job. Even if Wendy was not able to use her full vocal prowess for the cover, denying that she is indeed one of the most treasured K-Pop vocalists would be a disservice.
