On January 5, 2019, it was announced that Red Velvet will be releasing a digital single on January 6 at midnight JST (UTC+09:00).[1] On the same day, SM Entertainment released a video teaser for the song on its official YouTube channel.[2]
"Sappy" was composed by Maria Marcus, Andreas Öberg, and Emyli, while the lyrics were written by MEG.ME.[3][4] Musically, the song was described as a brassy electro-pop and dance-pop track.[5][6] Tamar Herman of Billboard noted the switching up of the single's momentum while "vacillating between the boisterous chants of the chorus and the melodic verses that explode with Red Velvet's powerful vocals".[7] Takuo Matsumoto of Real Sound described the rare way for the Red Velvet to make a Japanese single with a pattern A-melody, B-melody, and chorus, emphasizing the "freshness" with elaborated chord progressions and melody lines.[6] It is composed in the keyofF minor, with a tempo of 106 beats per minute.[8] Lyrically, the song tells a "Sappy" boy to pick between two love interests.[9]
The music video for "Sappy" was released on January 5, 2019.[10] It shows variety of sets where Red Velvet interacts and spends their time playing around with foam while washing cars. Tamar Herman of Billboard described the "colorful, industrial setting and the peppy, hand-oriented" moves of the choreography, noting that it is a "bit of a throwback" to "Dumb Dumb" (2015).[7] The song debuted at number 13 on the US BillboardWorld Digital Song Sales chart.[11]
^곡 정보 - SAPPY [Song Information - SAPPY] (in Korean). Melon. January 11, 2019. Archived from the original on August 25, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
^ abMatsumoto, Takuo (January 21, 2019). TWICE、Red Velvet、GFRIEND、Apink…変わりゆくK-POPガールズグループのウィンターソング [TWICE, Red Velvet, GFRIEND, Apink…Ever-Changing K-Pop Girl Group Winter Song]. Real Sound (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
^Sappy (photobook). Red Velvet. Japan: SM Entertainment, Avex Trax. 2018. Credits.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Red Velvet Digital Single「SAPPY」2019年1月6日リリース決定！ [Red Velvet Digital Single "SAPPY" will be Released on January 6, 2019!]. Red Velvet Japan (in Japanese). January 5, 2019. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
