Song Review: RIIZE – Do Your Dance

As with too many of their new-gen peers’ discographies, it’s hard to predict how a new RIIZE single might sound. In the past, there have been K-pop groups I knew I could count on to deliver the goods each and every time, and this was usually because they worked with a tight team of producers and developed a signature sound. In contrast, RIIZE’s releases have seesawed in quality. When they’re great, they’re outstanding. But more often than not lately, their best work has been relegated to b-sides.

This will remain true with Do Your Dance, as the previews for the b-sides all sound great. When describing this song, the members called it “trendy,” which in modern K-pop parlance I’ve taken to mean “gimmicky” or even “disposable”. Indeed, Do Your Dance is a TikTok idea in need of a song to back it up. The guys spend most of the running time rattling off body parts that can be used for dancing. Very original, right? This hook was teased incessantly before the song’s release and every time I heard it I prayed there was more to Do Your Dance than tired repetition. On first listen, a dynamic opening verse gave me hope. At least the energy is high and some of the group’s trademark vocals poke through.

Sadly, Do Your Dance‘s charm lasts about eighty-five seconds before the track devolves into boring talk over a beat that never seems to know what it wants to be. At one point, they sing “We be surfing this melody” and I’m like… “what melody?” Repeating “head, hips, shoulders, toes” in the most monotonous speech imaginable is not a song. You can actually hear the moment the producers ran out of ideas. I don’t wish to devolve into reviewing songs with memes, but Do Your Dance‘s swan-dive-off-a-cliff nature is the aural epitome of this popular meme:

Sigh. Why couldn’t they have just developed the killer sounds of Get A Guitar or Impossible so we could hear some musical growth and continuity?

Grade: D+