my final theory: Naughty was originally Irene & Seulgi's lead single, but it was ultimately swapped relatively last minute for Monster

- a thread of thoughts strewn all over the place -

I honestly believe the subunit had already filmed Naughty (and by extension, Irene and Seulgi's solo episodes) but before they were finished, they were scrapped.

Later on tho, SM decided since everything was already filmed, they might as well finish the clips and release them.

The ReVe Festival Finale's cover references a cave that relates to none of RV's other singles. Naughty is their only MV that has ever taken place in a cave.

Irene's whole instagram post with 2 Irene's might've been hinting to her solo episode, altho this one might just be a funny coincidence lol

The Naughty choreography took 5 months for the choreographers to create, and Irene and Seulgi took months to properly learn tutting from the basics. That's a lot of work for a B-side/follow-up single.

the CGI artist working on Irene & Seulgi's debut posted this image of him working on their content only 12 days before July 6th. From context clues, it looks like he's last minute-editing Naughty, which might explains the rougher edges of CGI.

Their elegant, black and white coordinated teaser images appear to suit Naughty more than Monster's focus on mainly darker, black aesthetic

Likewise, the elegant black and white aesthetic of the album packaging matches up quite nicely with Naughty's black and white aesthetic as well.

It would've been difficult to change the packaging & teasers last minute to fit Monster more.

additionally, there photocards of Irene and Seulgi from the filming of Naughty, but none from the filming of Monster

Let's not forget how Irene did a cover of Naughty Girl as well

Note: this is based off knowing that Naughty was filmed in May (the 20th iirc) but we don't actually know when Monster was filmed. (That being said, I could be completely wrong haha so if you've got evidence of a date feel free to show it to me!)

Anyway this is where I put the theory I got from reading between the lines lol

Basically, my theory is that Naughty was filmed first as the lead single, scrapped, and then was scrambled to be finished last minute when SM decided that Naughty would still be worth promoting a bit.

I think the swap was merely a choice of preference— Seulgi mentioned hearing Monster and getting a lot of inspiration, even making a ppt of her own suggestions.

I also don't think Monster was a part of the initial song line-up for the mini-album (it doesn't sound like a b-side)

SM even released Naughty on its own, so it's not like there seemed to be anything wrong with the song/choreo/MV that had been filmed already. Thus, chances are that the change to Monster was just preference lol

Essentially, it seems like Naughty was pretty solidified as the lead, but then Monster was a last-minute addition. Seulrene liked Monster as a title track more, and decided to just role with it bc why not

It could explain the delay from June to July as well.

Anyway!!! That's just me speculating so take this all with a grain of salt!! I just like connecting dots on occasion like that guy in the meme lmao

Make sure to stream Naughty, friends!! (and Monster too!!!)

also most of this was speculated in a convo I had with @reallyokaygirl over here!! https://twitter.com/reallyokaygirl/status/1285417158344757249?s=19

Also as another heads up: I'm not gonna be arguing with ppl who refute this theory it's just a theory, after all, and I compiled this thread completely for fun, so I really don't mind if some or all of this thread is proven wrong lol