We’re in a polarising time for music. The industry is getting mouldier with every passing week; if AI doesn’t have a hand in the writing of hit songs, industry plants and payola are still shoving all the good, authentic stuff to the bottom of an endless pit that not even the lankiest of arms could reach if they tried. That being said, the accessibility of the streaming era gives room for countless artists to make their cases, and people have never been listening more than they do now.
RIIZE are one of many K-Pop groups we love and wish to stay true to their artistry. We see the occasional group doing a 180 on their sound once it becomes less trendy: maybe a fun tune for the moment, but a jarring change and blatant pander to the pockets of those who don’t actually care what they’re putting out. With boyish flair and a sound residing in acoustics and sheer rhythm, RIIZE have kept the heart of their identity beating since day one. Their second mini album, II, happily maintains what we know them for.
Title track “Do your dance” is the most adventurous of them all. It’s an electronic headbanger with mean bass and a particularly rousing prechorus: vocals are melodic as always, the uptempo beat is building towards a climactic drop, and broken-chord sci-fi synths climb with us to the pivotal moment. The sprechgesang chorus ‘Head, hips, shoulders, toes / Do your dance like a pro, do your dance like a pro’ might not be everyone’s cup of tea – especially those who adore RIIZE’s typical harmonic choruses sung by all members at once – but it maintains their swagger, and we get to see more of their cool vibe with the street fashion worn by the boys in the music video.
“SOAR” is a great opener. The blaring guitars are emotion-strewn, as are their vocals, and it’s reminiscent of their other euphoric anthems that are the pinnacle of RIIZE sound like “Memories”, “Show Me Love” and “Impossible”. This is the kind of song that makes you want to get up, search for the beauty in the world, and live free as a bird. Which makes perfect sense, because the lyrics are compelling us to do so just as much as the song’s composition:
Spread my wings and soar
Higher, I want more
Feeling paradise, air, up, here
It’s so beautiful (Beautiful)
“D-D-Done” is how we’re feeling about the inauthenticity of a large portion of the industry, so thank you RIIZE for being the complete opposite. The track is yet another RIIZE win, infused with just enough danceable rhythm to keep spirits high through the whole of Summer. “Overdrive” follows, and it’s got about 1/3 as much spunk as their beloved and noisy “Siren”, while leaning R&B in its chorus. The bridge will convince you that RIIZE can sing over any track with a non-discernible genre and still sound fire.
Hip-hop and R’n’B-intertwined “Like a Bomb” is a neat little tune. The chorus threw us at the first listen – then we remembered that “tick-tock” has been an onomatopoeic term in the English dictionary for centuries, and the boys are not actually singing about a popular social media platform. “In a Loop” is optimistic like “SOAR”, but warmer and breezier, like the credits song of a hearty film. Such is the listenability of RIIZE.
RIIZE are on Instagram and all major streaming platforms. You can listen to “II” here.