RIIZE, a seven-member group under SM Entertainment, released their first mini-album titled RIIZING on Sunday. The album includes five songs, “Siren,” “Impossible,” “9 Days,” “Honestly,” and “One Kiss.” The first two songs have already been released in previous singles, so only three of the songs are new releases.

To be honest, I did not know RIIZE was planning an album release. I only found out about it Tuesday when I checked Spotify’s ‘Picked for you’ section. I didn’t see any promotional posts from SM Entertainment or RIIZE’s fanbase on social media. I was even more surprised when I realized that they also released two music videos for “9 Days” and “One Kiss.” This lack of promotions isn’t too surprising, though. SM Entertainment has been criticized by fans for their lack of promotions for their groups, like EXO, aespa, and Red Velvet. 

I would say that I am more of a casual fan of this group, but I still enjoy listening to their newest releases. Overall, I wasn’t super impressed with any of the songs, but I’ll cut them some slack since this is their first album. 

Out of the three new releases, “9 Days” is my least favorite song. It just sounds like something I would hear playing in a club in 2013, which is not what I usually look for in songs. Overall, it sounds a bit generic compared to the other songs.

The other two songs were definitely more up my alley. Usually, I am a bigger fan of softer-sounding songs, so it makes sense why I liked these songs better. Looking at RIIZE’s concept photos, it’s clear that they are trying to showcase a nostalgic and youthful image, and I think “Honestly” showcased that really well. 

My favorite song out of the three would definitely be “One Kiss.” I think the melodic track of the song really showcases their strong vocals. I am glad to see that this song was more than three minutes long, which gave them enough time to create a satisfying progression, something I talked about in this blog.