[2] LDN Noise, Ryan S. Jhun, Denzil "DR" Remedios, Dsign Music, Kenzie, Deekay, Charli Taft, Jinbo, Dem Jointz, as well as others, handled production of the album, with SM founder Lee Soo-man serving as the executive producer.

The record primarily showcases the group's "red" image with "fun, peppy" pop-oriented musical styles.

On September 3, a series of image teasers were revealed on the group's official Instagram account, along with the album's tracklist.

[6] While talking about the album at a press conference on September 8, the members and the company also hinted at a similar conceptual promotion that will follow suit after The Red, although an S.M.

It is followed by "Huff 'n' Puff", an electro-pop song that features a dubstep-like breakdown that sings about waking up from a dream and coming back to reality, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

The fourth track "Red Dress" is a dominant dance-pop track with much synth running through the song, clapping-like snare and marching-influenced drumline which tells a story in which a girl wears a red dress and clumsily but slyly tempts a man who treats her only as a child.

The soulful, R&B-flavored "Oh Boy" showcases the singing ability and highlights harmonization of the girlgroup, while being the next three songs which are produced by LDN Noise.

Ryan S. Jhun co-produced the former two tracks, with additional production by Denzil "DR" Remedios on "Campfire" and Dsign Music on "Red Dress".

The latter half of The Red starts with the sixth track "Lady's Room", an uptempo R&B, synth-pop song that sings about the sisterhood between girls and the happy moments they share.

The eighth track "Don't U Wait No More" highlights the group's harmonization over a heavy synth production with a harmonized "Don't you wait no more" hook, with the lyrics revolve around a girl trying to get closer to her hesitant boyfriend, followed by the bossa nova-influenced midtempo pop-rock track "Day 1", which describes the feeling of new love by combining the electric, funky guitar sound and the melodic piano with the vocals of the members.

The album ends with "Cool World", a synth-pop uptempo song with hopeful lyrics about embracing and living as themselves.

Billboard's Jeff Benjamin called The Red "an impressive, solid debut album" and stated that it "indicates big things for the act that needs to follow in the footsteps of their beloved female label mates Girls' Generation and f(x).

"[15] while Noisey stated that it's "perhaps the strongest top-to-bottom K-pop album to date," praising its "daredevil song forms, harmonies richer and smarter than anything on western dials in a quarter-century, and nonstop virtuoso songsmith hooks—without so much as a single English inflection out of place.