RIIZE Members Open Up About Music, Concerts & Nicknames

When RIIZE goes out to dinner, it’s a 20-person affair.

On this specific Sunday night, the pioneering South Korean mega-label SM Leisure has reserved a non-public room at a scorching spot in Los Angeles’ Koreatown fashionable with music artists for its new boy band. The six members file in round an extended desk — together with an SM-associated translator (who’s sometimes assisted by two different group members), a publicist from RCA Data (an SM accomplice for RIIZE), a veteran supervisor from Seoul and eight further crew members who sit in a close-by sales space.

The Korean group is on the town for its RIIZING DAY Fan-Con Tour tomorrow — a “fan-concert” the place the group intersperses choreographed performances of its personal Ok-pop hits with informal video games, casual onstage chats amongst themselves and particular covers of each Ok-pop classics and world boy band hits, like One Route’s “One Factor.” It’s RIIZE’s first time headlining a present in the US, however its third group go to to L.A. Earlier than the Could 20 live performance, the group flew right here in August to attend the town’s annual KCON Ok-pop mega-fest and in addition filmed two music movies on the town: the jovial “Reminiscences” (a pre-debut single that generated buzz for the group that month) and its official debut single, “Get a Guitar,” a slick, bubblegum earworm launched in each Korean and English that’s now RIIZE’s most streamed music globally, with 219.6 million official on-demand streams since its September launch, in keeping with Luminate.

“Not even a yr has handed since our debut, however a lot has occurred,” says RIIZE’s youngest member, 20-year-old Anton, as his bandmates nibble on naan bread and citrus-splashed hamachi crudo. “Again then, our group was, like, harmless, you realize? Now, we’ve type of adjusted to touring and visiting different international locations.”

In reality, RIIZE’s members weren’t completely inexperienced when the group made its official debut on Sept. 4, 2023, by way of Ok-pop large SM in a partnership with RCA. Shotaro and Sungchan had beforehand debuted in NCT, the formidable boy band undertaking that SM launched in 2016, changing into its two latest members in 2020 and contributing to Resonance, Pt. 1, NCT’s highest-charting Billboard 200 launch. Two years later, SM’s board of administrators moved to terminate the corporate’s manufacturing contract with founder Lee Soo-Man (from whom SM will get its identify) in 2022 in an effort to shift SM away from Lee’s artistic authority. In Could 2023, Korean multimedia conglomerate Kakao grew to become the corporate’s largest shareholder after a heated bidding struggle with Ok-pop titan HYBE (which initially purchased Lee’s stake within the firm however then offered it to Kakao throughout a young provide) for entry to SM’s almost 30 years of Ok-pop glory, together with an in depth catalog, devoted divisions for nonmusic alternatives like appearing, expertise and the metaverse, in addition to dozens of lively artists — quickly to incorporate its latest addition, RIIZE.

Simply days earlier than Kakao grew to become majority shareholder, SM CEO Jang Cheol-Hyuk revealed that as a part of an organization restructuring, NCT — initially pitched as a bunch with infinite members splintered into localized subunits worldwide — would now not infinitely increase and that Shotaro and Sungchan would go away to debut in a brand new group, becoming a member of beforehand introduced SM Rookies (the corporate’s group of trainees) Eunseok and Seunghan, together with different Korean and American members. In July 2023, pleasure mounted when Ok-pop media shops reported that the son of acclaimed Korean singer-songwriter-producer Yoon Sang — later revealed to be Anton — would additionally be part of the undertaking.

Lastly, on July 27, 2023, SM launched RIIZE. The group (whose identify is a portmanteau of “rise” and “notice”) launched its Instagram with 27 photographs — informal selfies and mirror pics with out the flashy vogue, excellent make-up or shiny finishes that usually characterize Ok-pop photograph shoots even on social media — revealing the seven-member lineup of Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Seunghan, Sohee and Anton. (Six are at dinner tonight; in November, SM positioned Seunghan on “indefinite suspension,” although he’s nonetheless listed as a RIIZE member on the label’s web site.)

RIIZE has sought to current itself as extra down-to-earth — a noticeable change from earlier, high-concept SM artist launches just like the supernatural-inspired boy band EXO; the woman group aespa, which sings about straddling the actual and digital worlds; and different larger-than-life Ok-pop idols the label has served up for the reason that late Nineties. RIIZE describes its music as “emotional pop,” a phrase it makes use of, Anton says, “as a result of we hope that folks can relate to it emotionally. The members all do, and I believe that’s what our followers need from us as effectively.”

However RIIZE differs from different Ok-pop outfits in ways in which transcend the aesthetic or idea. For one, its social media method is way extra hands-on than that of its contemporaries, who are likely to have marketing-approved captions; @riize_official sprinkles feedback throughout followers’ TikTok accounts. The members additionally filmed the #GetAGuitarChallenge with influencers together with Merrick Hanna (who has 32.5 million followers on TikTok), reacted to tasting Indonesian snacks with Jerome Polin (8.2 million followers on Instagram) and shot charming content material with South Korea’s most distinguished brazenly homosexual superstar, the tastemaker Hong Seok-Cheon, who predicted Wonbin as a “face” to observe in 2024.

“We’ve an idea known as ‘real-time odyssey,’” Eunseok explains. “We submit lots of footage of our day by day life and intimate [moments] on social media.” Anton clarifies: “We don’t actually consider it as an idea — we’re simply making an attempt to indicate our genuine selves.”

Not like lots of its friends, RIIZE additionally doesn’t have a delegated “chief,” even when the Tokyo-raised Shotaro — at 23, the group’s eldest and solely Japanese member — naturally steps up. At dinner, he ensures everybody round him (together with this reporter) has water and their drink of alternative. He’s the primary to talk on the meal and divulges probably the most about his musical tastes; Sam Smith is a favourite. To his left is his fellow ex-NCT member, Seoul-born Sungchan, 22, whose beaming smile helped him develop into a number of the weekly Ok-pop efficiency TV program Inkigayo whereas he was in NCT. Someday, he hopes Pharrell Williams will collaborate on a monitor for RIIZE. Shotaro likens Sungchan to the colour sky blue as a result of he has “a really clear coronary heart… and may be very harmless.”

RIIZE’s 4 different members sit throughout from the duo. Born and raised in Seoul, Eunseok, 23, prefers calm ballads and the music of Ed Sheeran. Whereas his exterior demeanor matches his musical style, his bandmates reveal he has a extra lighthearted facet: As Sohee describes, Eunseok is understood for giving “very random and fantastical” nonsensical nicknames to everybody he meets. Anton calls them “principally video-game character names,” which makes everybody snort.

The 22-year-old Wonbin — or “Darkish Bean,” as Eunseok has dubbed him, to the remainder of RIIZE’s amusement — was born in Seoul however raised in South Korea’s southern port metropolis of Ulsan; he digs Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Expertise-era singles like “Mirrors” and “Swimsuit & Tie.” Child-faced powerhouse vocalist Sohee, 20, grew up in Siheung, situated within the nation’s most populous province, Gyeonggi; he isn’t solely “actually shiny,” Anton explains, “[but] his mindset is all the time actually optimistic as effectively.”

Final is Anton, 20, son of singer Yoon Sang and the actress Shim Hye-Jin. Whereas Anton has appeared on South Korean TV since childhood (Yoon Sang is predicated in South Korea), he was born in Boston and raised in New Jersey; rising up in the US fostered his urge for food for music discovery and exploration, which in the end grew to become the muse for his Ok-pop profession. “I don’t actually assume I’ve a favourite artist per se,” he says, soft-spoken however confident. “I similar to to discover as many genres [as I can] and attempt to take heed to lots of totally different music even when I don’t perceive the language. Individuals who take pleasure in Ok-pop may not perceive Korean.”

Anton’s musical philosophy encapsulates the rising mindset of the younger viewers with whom RIIZE, in addition to SM and RCA, hope to attach. As U.S. listeners develop into more and more inquisitive about foreign-language music, RIIZE has earned 37.8 million official U.S. on-demand streams — contributing to 641.2 million globally — in keeping with Luminate. And it hopes to proceed increasing its fan base (often known as BRIIZE, pronounced “breeze”) with the June 17 launch of RIIZING – The first Mini Album. Its new single, “Increase Increase Bass,” incorporates the identical hooky vitality of “Get a Guitar” whereas including shimmery disco vibes and an irresistible bassline. Sungchan and Wonbin each say it’s their favourite RIIZE music but.

After 5 totally different Ok-pop releases topped the Billboard 200 final yr, pushed by Ok-pop followers’ love of bodily product and labels delivering collectible album packages in a number of variations, RCA Data COO John Fleckenstein says the label is “completely centered on delivering bodily variations for RIIZE” in the US — however as only one strategy to elevate the group’s presence.

“The imaginative and prescient behind our world partnership was to marry what each our corporations do greatest throughout all areas to deliver further alternatives, attain, assets and development to assist RIIZE,” Fleckenstein provides. “Our ardour lies in exploring the intersection of music, artwork, tradition after which connecting that to an viewers. SM have been unbelievable companions who really perceive the market.”

Because the members of RIIZE dip into Basque cheesecakes for dessert, they share their private objectives for the longer term, each close to and distant. They hope that “Increase Increase Bass” can crack a number of Billboard charts and are wanting ahead to their first authentic Japanese-language single, “Fortunate,” due in July, calling it “an ideal music for the summer time.” Shotaro goals of sometime performing on the Tremendous Bowl and the Billboard Music Awards.

RIIZE desires followers to know that the Fan-Con Tour is just the start, and that the members plan to go to many international locations. When Shotaro and Anton burst into tears throughout the band’s two sold-out dates at Tokyo’s Yoyogi Nationwide Gymnasium area in Could, it introduced new which means to the group’s “emotional pop” — and conveyed how a lot RIIZE desires an offline fan connection that’s as sturdy as its on-line one.

“I actually didn’t plan on crying in any way,” Anton displays. “That was our greatest live performance thus far, and seeing the followers far-off holding up our indicators and stuff was simply type of overwhelming.” On the live performance the day after dinner, the members handle to not break into tears — however their efficiency isn’t any much less heartfelt. Amid heart-stopping choreography, Anton pauses to deal with the viewers. “We’ll work onerous,” he says, “to develop into a RIIZE that BRIIZE may be happy with.”