Song Review:: RIIZE: Insomnia

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  • Release date: 2026 October 25
  • Album tracklist: Insomnia
  • Album runtime: 3 minutes

 Alright, look. First of all, I have this feeling like this is actually a pre-release for their full album that'll be released next year. But it's being marketed as a digital single, so a digital single this will be labeled. Second, I didn't do this when it was released, but I also realized, with xikers's and TWS's releases on the same day, that all three of my favorite fifth gen boy groups have given us releases in the span of a week. As a fan, this delights me beyond reason because I am so well fed. Also as a fan, this stresses me out because how do I pick who to support in the voting?

Wow. I was right with TWS's post. All three of them are giving us such different styles, though to be fair two of them are a lot softer than the eldest group of the three. Most of the instrumental is dedicated to an acoustic guitar with some percussion under it to help support and round out the song, but the spots where that percussion falls away and it's just the acoustic guitar is stunningly beautiful. 

I love it when the K-Pop groups actually stand still for a moment and show off that they're actually well-trained professional singers. And we're getting vibrato from these guys, which proves that SM let them keep their vibrato. Always nice to have that proof. But we're getting group singing with some beautiful layers and harmonies. And the best part of the harmonies specifically? The instrumental mostly goes away while they're doing that so there's not much to distract us from what beautiful sounds they're making. 

This is such a soft comfort song and this feels like a music video from the mid 2000s, maybe early 2010s if we're going really late. I mean, I say comfort, but there's also quite the amount of trauma in here. And from a technical standpoint, the amount of warm lighting here is just amazing.

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