Why Can't RIIZE Sleep? Inside 'Insomnia,' the Acoustic Single Before EMOTIION
RIIZE's "Insomnia" is a digital single released on October 26, 2026 at midnight KST: a guitar-led acoustic pop song about thoughts of someone that grow sharper as the night goes on, with lyrics by Kim Eana and a drama-style music video on SMTOWN's YouTube channel. It is the prologue to RIIZE's second full-length album, EMOTIION, due in spring 2027, and a fan event called RIIZE into INSOMNIA runs at SPACE S50 in Seoul's Seongsu-dong from October 26 to 29.
What Kind of Song Is "Insomnia"?
Why would a group known for its stage energy release a song made for headphones after midnight? Look at what came just before it. RIIZE spent the summer with "Do your dance," the title track of the mini album II, released on June 15: an uptempo dance number built on hip-hop beats and heavy bass. "Insomnia" goes the other way. It is a guitar-led acoustic pop song, and SM Entertainment describes its mood as quiet and lonely, carried by vocals that stay restrained even when the feeling underneath them is not. This time the choreography is not the point. The six voices are.
The lyrics are by Kim Eana, one of the best-known lyricists in K-pop. They follow thoughts of someone that become clearer the deeper the night goes, and the tangle of feelings that spreads out from there. It is a simple premise, and it suits the season: the song arrived just as Seoul's evenings turned cold. Ask the members where to listen closely and they point to the harmonies. In their release-day comments, they named the harmony as the song's "killing part," the K-pop term for the moment that hooks you.
"Insomnia" was released on Monday, October 26, 2026, at 00:00 KST (15:00 UTC on October 25) as a one-track digital single on streaming services including Melon, Spotify and Apple Music. The music video went up on SMTOWN's YouTube channel at the same moment.
A Drama-Style Music Video and Six Sleepless Stories
The music video is shot like a short drama about people who cannot sleep. Each of the six members plays a separate character, and each one carries the feeling of a sleepless night in his own way, so the video works less like a performance clip and more like a set of overlapping scenes. The teaser images released on October 25 came in member-by-member sets for Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Sohee and Anton, which is a good hint at how the story is built.
The most unusual part of this release came before the video. The Korean science-fiction novelist Cheon Seon-ran wrote a short side story for each character, and the illustrator NOMA painted them in gouache, an opaque watercolor. The stories were posted on RIIZE's official social media accounts in two batches: Sohee, Wonbin and Shotaro at midnight on October 23, then Sungchan, Anton and Eunseok at midnight on October 24.
Why build a small library around a three-minute song? Because it changes how you watch. If you read the six stories first, the video plays like the last episode of a series rather than a stand-alone clip, and the characters arrive with a history. For a song that asks you to slow down and listen, that is a fitting way in.
Release Week: A Sheep Game, Insomnia Hunters and a Seongsu Event
The run-up had a sense of humor. On October 21, RIIZE's official website opened a browser game about counting sheep to help the members fall asleep. The same evening, the group's YouTube channel started Insomnia Hunters, a two-part variety series in which the members, in costume, roam an amusement park at night; the second episode followed on October 23.
The in-person part of the release is RIIZE into INSOMNIA, a fan event at SPACE S50 in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, from October 26 to 29. Each day has a different program of stages, talks, an exhibition and interactive experiences, and the session at 11 p.m. KST on October 26 is streamed live on RIIZE's official YouTube channel for viewers around the world. Entry details were announced on RIIZE's Weverse community, so check there before you head over. If you are in town, the location makes it easy to build a day around: Seongsu is Seoul's pop-up neighborhood, and our Seongsu-dong walking guide covers the cafe streets and stores around it.
Music show stages follow at the end of the week: KBS2's Music Bank on October 30, MBC's Show! Music Core on October 31 and SBS's Inkigayo on November 1. Studio audience places for these broadcasts are usually handled through the official fan club rather than open sales, so keep an eye on RIIZE's official notices if you want to try.
How RIIZE Got Here, and Why EMOTIION Comes Next
RIIZE is SM Entertainment's six-member boy group: Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Sohee and Anton. The group debuted on September 4, 2023 with the single album Get A Guitar, collected rookie awards that winter, including Rookie of the Year at the Melon Music Awards, and released its first full-length album, ODYSSEY, led by "Fly Up," in May 2025. The fan club is called BRIIZE.
2026 has been a busy year. The mini album II arrived in June, and Korean media reported it as the group's fourth release to sell more than a million copies. In September, RIIZE marked its third anniversary with a two-day fan meeting, Ch. RIIZE : ON AIR, at INSPIRE Arena in Incheon on September 12 and 13, which drew about 23,000 fans. At the end of the first night, the group announced two releases: a new single on October 26, and its second full-length album, EMOTIION, in spring 2027. Korean coverage called "Insomnia" the prologue to that album.
If you are planning a trip around K-pop, the next big moment in Seoul is the year-end season of award shows and broadcaster festivals, which our guide to K-pop concerts in Seoul in December walks through. For the idol landmarks you can visit any time of year, start with our K-pop travel guide to Seoul.
Sori's Note
Look at how the next album is spelled: EMOTIION, with a doubled I, the same doubled letter that sits in RIIZE. A single in October and a full album in spring is a long arc, and the first word of it is a feeling rather than a move. That choice tells you something about where this chapter is headed.
So here is my suggestion. Play "Insomnia" once in daylight and once after midnight. A song built on harmony sounds different when the city outside is quiet, and that second listen is the one the song was written for.
