After seven months away, RIIZE has come back swinging. The six-member SM Entertainment group released its second EP, II, on Monday, June 15, 2026, and the early numbers suggest the wait only sharpened fans' appetite. Led by the single "Do Your Dance," the record arrived with a wave of chart placements that stretched well beyond Korea, and the members themselves frame this release as the moment their full-fledged activities for the year truly begin.
What Happened
RIIZE dropped II at 6 p.m. Korea time on June 15, marking their first new music since the single "Fame" in November 2025. The EP gathers six tracks, with "Do Your Dance" out front and "Soar," "D-D-Done," "Overdrive," "Like a Bomb" and "In a Loop" rounding out the set. It is also the group's first Korean-language release of the year, which the members describe as the official start of their 2026 campaign rather than just another comeback.
The commercial response was immediate. According to SM Entertainment, II sold more than 910,000 copies within a single day of release, debuting at No. 1 on Hanteo Chart's daily album ranking. The lead track leans into a relaxed, confident groove rather than the dense choreography RIIZE built its name on, a deliberate shift the members say reflects months of rehearsal and a willingness to hold back where they once filled every beat with movement. As reported in The Korea Herald, the group treats "Do Your Dance" as a statement meant to be felt rather than dissected.
Why It Matters
RIIZE debuted in September 2023, and in under three years the group has moved from promising rookies to a reliably best-selling act with hits like "Get A Guitar," "Love 119" and "Boom Boom Bass." A 910,000-copy opening day is not just a strong personal best; it places RIIZE firmly in the conversation among the biggest fourth-generation acts, the tier where first-week million-sellers have become the benchmark of relevance.
The international spread is the more telling story. II topped the digital album sales chart on China's QQ Music and earned a Triple Gold certification, awarded to releases passing 750,000 yuan in sales. In Japan it hit No. 1 on streaming platform AWA's real-time rising chart and No. 2 on RecoChoku's daily album ranking. The EP also reached No. 1 on iTunes Top Albums charts in five regions, including Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia, while landing in the Top 10 across eleven countries from Singapore and Taiwan to Brazil, Turkey and Colombia. For a group still early in its career, that breadth signals a fanbase that is already global rather than regional, and it underlines how SM's newer acts are launching with worldwide reach from the start. The Korea Times noted the sharper, more self-assured sound that anchors the release.
Reaction
In a group interview distributed by SM Entertainment ahead of the release, the members repeatedly returned to one word: enjoyment. Sohee described II as "a fun album from start to finish" and thanked fans, known as Briize, for waiting through the seven-month gap. Anton framed the EP as a shift "from thinking to doing," a sign that RIIZE wanted to be seen as a group that takes action rather than one still working through its growing pains.
Fans zeroed in on the choreography, which the members themselves flagged as a departure. Wonbin pointed out that for the first time a RIIZE chorus lets the dancers' feet settle rather than stay airborne, with the appeal coming from restraint and composure. Shotaro singled out a dance break that his bandmate Sungchan playfully insisted no one else could replicate, the kind of moment that tends to spawn its own short-form dance challenge online. With a catchy "head, hips, shoulders, toes" hook designed to lodge in listeners' heads, the song is built for exactly the kind of clip-and-share momentum that fuels modern K-pop.
What's Next
This comeback lands on the heels of RIIZE's first world tour, "Riizing Loud," and the members credit that run of shows for much of their newfound stage confidence. Sungchan said the growth happened almost without his noticing, shaping the way he thought about vocal tone and performance while recording. That momentum now feeds directly into the promotion cycle for II, where the group is leaning hard on live performance as the centerpiece of the campaign.
Expect a steady run of music-show stages, variety appearances and side-track spotlights in the coming weeks. The members have already named their personal favorites among the deeper cuts, with "D-D-Done" pitched as a festival-ready anthem and "Overdrive" built for big-speaker concert moments, hints at which songs could carry into future tour setlists. Having marked their 1,000th day since debut alongside this release, RIIZE clearly sees II as a launchpad for an especially busy stretch.
Closing Thoughts
What makes this comeback interesting is not only the sales figure but the posture behind it. RIIZE could have answered a seven-month absence with maximal spectacle; instead the group chose restraint, trusting that confidence reads louder than intensity. That is a notably mature creative call for an act still in its first three years, and the chart response suggests audiences rewarded it.
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If "Do Your Dance" delivers the kind of long-tail streaming and challenge culture its hook seems engineered for, II may end up looking like the record that moved RIIZE from rising contender to established headliner. For now, the group has done the hard part: returning after a long gap and immediately proving the audience was still there, larger and more global than before. The rest of 2026 will show whether the momentum holds.
한글 요약
SM엔터테인먼트 6인조 그룹 라이즈(RIIZE)가 2025년 11월 싱글 '페임(Fame)' 이후 약 7개월 만인 6월 15일, 두 번째 미니앨범 'II'로 돌아왔습니다. 타이틀곡 '두 유어 댄스(Do Your Dance)'를 포함해 'Soar', 'D-D-Done', 'Overdrive', 'Like a Bomb', 'In a Loop' 등 총 6곡이 담겼으며, 올해 첫 한국어 앨범으로서 본격적인 활동의 시작을 알렸습니다.
성적은 화려합니다. 발매 하루 만에 91만 장 이상이 팔리며 한터차트 일간 앨범 차트 1위에 올랐고, 중국 QQ뮤직 디지털 앨범 차트 1위와 트리플 골드 인증, 일본 AWA 실시간 급상승 1위를 기록했습니다. 또한 일본·태국·홍콩·베트남·인도네시아 등 5개 지역 아이튠즈 톱 앨범 차트 1위, 11개국 톱 10에 진입하며 데뷔 3년 차 그룹답지 않은 글로벌 영향력을 보여줬습니다.
멤버들은 이번 앨범의 키워드로 '즐거움'을 꼽았습니다. 특히 타이틀곡은 라이즈 특유의 빽빽한 안무 대신 절제와 여유를 택한 점이 화제가 됐는데, 원빈은 "후렴에서 발이 잠시 땅에 머무는 첫 무대"라고 설명했습니다. 첫 월드투어 'Riizing Loud'를 마친 뒤 쌓은 자신감이 이번 컴백에 그대로 반영됐다는 평가입니다. 데뷔 1,000일을 맞아 발표한 'II'는 라이즈의 2026년을 여는 출발점이 될 전망입니다.