Review

Song Review: RIIZE – All Of You

Of all the K-pop agencies, SM Entertainment boasts the largest legacy in the Japanese market. J-pop discographies from BoA, TVXQ, Girls Generation and SHINee match or eclipse their Korean counterparts, as the company invested in Japan early. However, the past few years have seen a more scattershot approach. New releases are infrequent — especially from SM’s newer groups. RIIZE hasn’t released an original Japanese single since 2024 and new track All Of You seems to be getting a rather hesitant push.

Listening to the song, that might be for the best. SM has struggled to give RIIZE their own sound, but when the material’s great it tends to be excellent. For me, their weakest songs have been Japanese (the less said about Be My Next, the better). 2024’s Lucky was fun but lightweight. All Of You is also lightweight but far less fun. The song doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, shifting between energies too frequently to gain a foothold. At one moment, it’s a party. The next, it dips into an overlong breakdown that squanders momentum. At its heart is a chanted hook. Maybe they’re trying to replicate the success of Love 119‘s chorus, but the reason why that song (eventually) worked was due to every other awesome part around its chorus.

There are brushes of awesomeness to be found here. The brassy opening delivers a welcome shot of fanfare before the actual song kicks off. The shuffling percussion has potential but feels as if it should be underpinning something totally different. RIIZE remain confident, engaging performers. However, All Of You is too fitful and too short to amount to anything worth returning to often. The song needs a much stronger centerpiece to help keep everything else in check.

Hooks 7
 Production 7
 Longevity 8
 Bias 7
 RATING 7.25

Grade: C

5 thoughts on “Song Review: RIIZE – All Of You

  1. Was a bit messy for me at first but the chorus is so propulsive that I grew to like it. Flashlight as the b-side is fantastic though, taps right into the emotional pop that RIIZE does so well.

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  2. How am I supposed to move to this? The song construction completely obscures suggestions of movement, and once one thinks they have a groove, it shifts. If I have to know the song to know how the song goes, it isn’t working. Its also not clever or nerdy enough to be a conceptual song that one listens to to.

    *sigh* why can’t people compose on real instruments, standing up, swaying and shifting. Its all computer boop boop and mouse movements with at best head bobbing.

    Prince … PRINCE … you can’t play 1999 without shifting your shoulders and booty in time, even if you didn’t know how the band all moved in sync in spangly frilly outfits.

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  3. man i swear reading all your recent reviews make you seem so depressed in my head……as if you’re one disappointing TWS comeback away from giving up on K-pop forever and packing for the Himalayas ;-;

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