RIIZE

One Liner: If this is what all K-pop sounds like then I am very confused how it survives
Wikipedia Genre: K-pop
Home: Seoul, South Korea

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 6 (!?!?!)
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

Beatbox Stage at 5:30.

Thoughts:  Well, that is terrible.  I guess I have never really given any K-Pop a chance, but I can now very succinctly say that NOPE.  In an odd maneuver, there are English words that pop up here and there - like their currently most popular track is named in English - "Fly Up" - and those words are used over and over, but the majority of the lyrics used are not English?  Seems very confusing to me, but what do I know.

The group, formed by something called SM Entertainment, consists of six members: Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Sohee, and Anton. Originally a seven-piece ensemble, Seunghan departed from the group in October 2024.  I really like that included in those names is "Anton."  It's like a group of Asian kids and then a 72 year-old black guy are hanging out.  Their name is pronounced like "rise."  I need to just provide you with Wikipedia content, because this is so strange: "Members Shotaro and Sungchan previously debuted in SM's boy group, NCT, being unveiled as part of the lineup in October 2020. On July 1, 2022, SM Entertainment introduced Shohei, Eunseok, and Seunghan as part of their SM Rookies lineup. In November 2022, it was announced that they would star in the reality show Welcome to NCT Universe, hosted by Shotaro and Sungchan."  So freaking odd.

Whatever.  Here is their lame pop music.  "Get a Guitar" was their first single, and is still their top streamer with 117.2 million streams.

Like a terrible Disney movie song.  Dudes are cute and can dance tho!  They also have a bad song called "Talk Saxy," which is just a fact I feel like you should know.  One album, 2025's ODYSSEY - The 1st Album.  So here is the top track from that thing.  "Fly Up" has 6.8 million streams.

Again, feeling like a Korean Disney movie track.  I can just see Zac Efron dancing to it.  But like, again, why is almost all of it in Korean, but then "I don't need no fame" is in English 10 times in the middle?  After doing eight seconds of research, it is apparently to broaden their audience.  Sure.

I will not go and watch this show.  Y'all have fun.