The boyband kicks off the new year with a sweet cover of a K-Pop milestone that only needs one listen to be added to your playlist. “Hug (포옹)” is, in fact, a new rendition of TVXQ!'s debut song and it’s featured in SM Entertainment's thirtieth-anniversary album, to be released on February 14.

As a hoobae on the same label as TVXQ, Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Sohee, and Anton did right in their homage to their sunbae, allowing a new audience to rediscover a song from over 20 years ago.

RIIZE (라이즈) debuted in September 2023 and made a name for themselves on the K-Pop scene with “Get A Guitar,” “Talk Saxy,” and “Love 119”. In their short but already thrilling career, the boys have showcased a noteworthy versatility while dabbing in house music, rap, ‘80s-style dance pop, and 808 bass-driven hip-hop.

Mixing genres is arguably the core of K-Pop, and RIIZE thrills fans (BRIIZE is the name of the fandom) as they push their boundaries and experiment at every new career step. To define their take on music they coined the expression “Emotional Pop (이모셔널 팝)”. This phrase is meant to describe the light-heartedness of his youthful stories, free of any grand discourse or philosophy. 

So it makes sense that they would be chosen as the interpreters of TVXQ’s “Hug” cover. The first version was released in 2004 and remastered in 2022, and we’d say RIIZE’s take on it doesn’t stray too far from the original: they kept the sweetness intact, giving a fresh interpretation of the same emotions. The nostalgic newtro mood and soft vocals found favor with the public and the stage video rose to no.1 on YouTube's trending music charts.

As with previous works of the band, the music video has a distinctive cinematographic atmosphere even if it is a quite simple shoot, happening in one place: the boys wear outfits reminiscent of school uniforms, a bit like the style their seniors had in their debut video. But while that one was shot in multiple locations, RIIZE perform in what appears to be a school gym filled with a soft, diffused light that makes it all quite ethereal. 

Both songs have a dance segment at about 1.25 minutes, but the choreographies are not exactly the same: is it just us or RIIZE’s moves recall a bit those of “Get A Guitar”, and even the infamous guitar strumming bit by BTS’s Jungkook from “Standing Next To You?”

And here’s a little trivia for all the K-Indie aficionados out there: singer-songwriter eldon is also involved in the song production. As he said himself on his Instagram profile, he participated in the chorus, which yes, fits perfectly with the easygoing style of eldon’s music!

A little word on the aforementioned thirtieth-anniversary event held by SM Entertainment. It’s quite a feast for anyone even remotely interested in K-Pop and its history: the company is one of the founding pillars of the industry, and in three decades has produced some of the major hits in the Korean musical scene. So imagine how exciting it is to find all the stars under the same label, both from the past and now, singing each other’s successes! If you want to find out more, check out SM’s social media or even the dedicated website.

From 'top rookies' to idols holding their own in a star-studded event like this thirtieth-anniversary music project, RIIZE continues to prove they're a group worth watching.