Earlier this year, it was announced that Sungchan and Shotaro would be leaving NCT and debuting as part of SM Entertainment’s newest male group that will not be associated with NCT. Since then, it has been announced that new male group is named RIIZE and the rest of the seven-member lineup has been confirmed (Eunseok, Wonbin, Seunghan, Sohee and Anton join the two former NCT members). Officially, the group won’t be making their debut until early September. But they have teased their debut with the performance video for Siren and the pre-release single Memories (the focus of today’s review).

Surprisingly, I am not too upset with Memories. There are parts of the song that I really like more than others, and I do agree that there are some parts that do weaken the song. But despite those (and I will expand on them in a second) weaknesses, I didn’t go away from Memories with too many strong feelings about the song. Memories‘ chorus was very well done, bringing forth a very notable pop influence. If you have read this blog for a while, you probably could have guess that this is the segment of the song that I like the best and find super enjoyable. I like the impression of a faster tempo that came from the beat of the chorus, and the brightness and comfort the melodies and vocals brought to the song. On the other hand, Memories‘ verses were very hip-hop centric. While I thought the display of hip-hop in the first verse and pre-choruses were fine, it is the swap between pop to hip-hop in the second verse and bridge that I found to be clashing and jarring. They were good examples of the group’s potential approach into the hip-hop genre, and shows that the new group could potentially one day release a song that might be similar to the hip-hop style that is synonymous to NCT 127. But they just don’t mix well with the rest of the song. Overall, Memories does show promise for the new group in different areas. Memories doesn’t show much of it, but I am intrigued with this idea of ’emotional pop’ that SM Entertainment is marketing them with. I am also hopeful and looking forward to seeing what that style exactly means and what RIIZE has that separates them from the current groups.

The music video shows the group as a bunch of youthful teenagers hanging out with another. It is a decent introduction to the members and I hope what we saw showcases the members’ personalities to some degree. Something personalised would help start off their careers with a more relatable connection with the audience and also potentially be unique, so I think that would really help separate out the group with its competition somewhat. Apart from that, I concur with the recent articles that reported the group was being criticised for their dated hairstyles. I am sure the members have very little say in this, but some of the hairstyles in this music video (along with the outfit styling) looked very dated. I am also intrigued by the closing segment of the music video, which I presume alludes to their upcoming single Get A Guitar that is due to be released two Mondays from now.

While I found the switch between pop and hip-hop clashing in terms of music, I liked how they maintained some bounciness in the choreography for both sides of the song. It made for a seamless blend of styles on stage. I also enjoyed their fresh energy they brought to the stage.

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.8/10