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.

Grade: C