RIIZE Considered The Name ‘Big Dipper’: Other Team Name Candidates Revealed [Watch]

A day before the release of its newest single, rookie K-Pop boy group RIIZE held a Weverse Live titled “RIIZE ‘Talk Saxy’ Preview” at exactly 9:04 p.m. KST, which symbolized the group’s debut day – Sept. 4.

During the Weverse Live, RIIZE’s seven members – Wonbin, Shotaro, Sohee, Sungchan, Anton, Eunseok and Seunghan – talked about the formation of their group, as well as the team names they considered before settling with RIIZE.

Before the group’s official team name was chosen, the members considered other options, including AND ONE, Big Dipper and 7 Stars.

Referring to the Big Dipper as the “weird” option, the members explained, “The Big Dipper was [among the options] because there are seven of us. [Like the seven bright stars in the Big Dipper constellation],” and laughed.

Meanwhile, when the members heard the name RIIZE, they thought “it was the one.” Member Wonbin added that he thought the name was “powerful.”

After this revelation, RIIZE fans – officially called BRIIZE – shared their thoughts on X, formerly Twitter.

“We [really] dodged a bullet [because] these names are just not it. Everyone better say: thank you, Sungchan!” one fan tweeted, while another stated, “We thank God every day they landed on RIIZE… What the hell [was] AND ONE?”

“[I] read Big Dipper as big diaper. I am very sorry,” a third fan quipped. A fourth user tweeted, “I would cry if I had to stan a group called Big Dipper.”

“[I’m] glad they [ended] up with RIIZE. It [was] such a pretty, cool and meaningful name,” another fan commented.

“With K-Pop groups, [it’s] always like this. They reveal an ugly name, and then they reveal the other candidates and the ugly name doesn’t sound that bad anymore,” one stated.

RIIZE is scheduled to release its newest single, “Talk Saxy,” on Friday, at 6 p.m. KST. In a previously uploaded teaser clip for RIIZE’s new track, fans had a glimpse of its choreography, which seemed like a mixture of complex footwork and swag movements.

“Talk Saxy” comes after the success of the group’s debut single, “Get A Guitar,” which debuted at No. 1 on one of Japan’s biggest music charts called Oricon two weeks after it premiered on Sept. 4.

“Get A Guitar” recorded a total of 1,016,849 album copies sold, making it the second highest-selling album by a rookie band for a debut album. It was bested by ZEROBASEONE’s “Youth In The Shade,” which peaked at 1.8 million units sold in July.

RIIZE is SM Entertainment’s newest group. Its name is a combination of the words “rise” and “realize” to mean that the “group will rise and realize their dreams together.”