So over the years a very common criticism against RIIZE is their lack of a “concept” or consistent sound. I’ve seen dozens of posts about how they seem “directionless” with the music they release. I myself have even echoed similar sentiments.
One of SM’s strongest aspects as a company is how well a group’s sound and concept is defined at or close to their debut. Of course there’s still a period where these groups may go through growing pains and evolve within the constructs of that, but acts like TVXQ, SNSD, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT, and Aespa had very clear conceptual and musical direction the second they hit the scene.
Enter RIIZE, whose “concept” seemed to just be a group of cool guys you’d want to be friends with. SM has described their sound as “emotional pop” in how it invokes and inspires emotions within the listener. Many fans like myself found that explanation to be rather vague especially when their first couple songs (Memories, siren, get a guitar, talk saxy) have very little in common musically other than two of them (siren and get a guitar) being samples of older songs. Their Japanese release Love 119 sampled an older song as well. I personally felt like the reliance on samples so heavily within many of their songs was a rather lazy route to take (especially for an SM group)- but get a guitar and love 119 were both very successful for RIIZE and launched them to be one of the top 5th gen boy groups.
While I touched on those who are critical of RIIZE’s “lack” of a solid musical or visual direction, many fans and listeners find RIIZE’s direction fresh and inviting compared to some of SM’s senior groups. The music industry is constantly changing and companies have to adapt to new trends. RIIZE is a great example of how that is done- and a successful one at that.
All of that to say Lee Sangmin, the executive director of Wizard production, gave an interview about RIIZE’s conception and how he deliberately took a direction for them on the opposite spectrum of previous SM groups. He wanted RIIZE to come off as more “natural” and approachable. He goes on to describe the idea of RIIZE as “influencers in real life”
After reading this I felt like the comments of RIIZE having such a stark difference conceptually from other SM groups were validated as Sangmin himself confirmed that was his intention. Of course we all knew SM was trying something different with RIIZE, but it seemed like any time there were criticisms with their identity as a group- there was pushback. My biggest criticism with RIIZE’s first mini was how incoherent in terms of sound it felt. While I of course enjoyed the songs, it felt like two different albums and not in a way that seemed intentional. I haven’t listened to their new album but from what I’ve seen fans are really happy with it and the b sides are praised quite often. I have also noticed that some k briize are upset about the interview, so I wanted to make this post to get other perspectives on their sound and their identity whether you think it fits them or otherwise.
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