



1 / 8 Chevron Chevron Photo: Ethan Haddox / Courtesy of SM Entertainment

The K-pop world scored another coup today: a collaboration between John Legend and Wendy of Red Velvet, the five-member girl group pushing its way Stateside. Called “Written in the Stars,” the soulful duet, out October 19 on SM Station, is set in a fantasy version of Hollywood’s golden age and sees Wendy and Legend play two train-bound, star-crossed lovers, dressed in a contemporary reinvention of classic ’40s and ’50s fashions—a frilled polka dot chiffon dress and pearls for Wendy, houndstooth slacks and a black turtleneck for Legend. The 24-year-old singer flew to Los Angeles last month to record the vocals and visuals with Legend; the pair shot at dusk near Palmdale, surrounded by desert, along an imaginary stretch of railroad, as seen in the exclusive behind the scenes images, above.

For Wendy, the three days she spent in California passed like a dream. “I couldn’t believe it,” she tells Vogue. “I just couldn’t believe it that I would be working with an artist that I had always listened to growing up. It still feels unreal that a song will be released with both my voice and his together.” Though she describes Legend as “so gentle and so cool,” it did little to calm her nerves. “I was so nervous, I felt like my heart stopped and I couldn’t speak—I just kept stuttering,” she recalls. “There is a scene where John and I sat facing each other, just staring into each other’s eyes while sitting in a rickety train that had flickering lights. I felt so embarrassed and awkward, so my eyes kept shaking and I almost laughed . . . but I held it in!”

Before she moved back to Korea to become a K-pop artist, Wendy grew up between Canada and the U.S. at a time when her culture had not yet made much impact. “At that time, there were many more people that had never heard of K-pop,” she says. How things have changed—and there’s no better proof of that than this very collaboration, which could hardly have taken place even five years ago. One hopes it’s just the beginning. “Not only me, but our Red Velvet members have a lot of interest in Stateside activities,” Wendy adds of the group’s hope to go global. “I really believe that if we keep holding onto this dream of ours, we will be able to keep taking baby steps forward toward achieving that dream one day.”