Quite Old For Rookies? Netizens Weigh In On RIIZE Members’ Ages

There has been a lot of talk recently about how young is too young when it comes to debuting K-Pop idols. With seemingly more trainees than ever making their debuts at the age of 16 and under, many K-Pop fans have expressed concern and disturbance over just how many very young people are starting their career in the industry when they’re barely out of elementary school.

One of the most-discussed groups when it comes to this topic is NewJeans, who only had one member — Minji — that was an adult at the time that they debuted. Other idols who recently debuted young include LE SSERAFIM‘s Eunchae (15 at the time of debut) and NMIXX‘s Kyujin (also 15 at debut).

Many fans therefore find it refreshing when a K-Pop group debuts with all of its members aged 18 and older, as it seems to be a somewhat rare occurrence. However, the topic of the ages of RIIZE‘s members was recently discussed on an online forum post where it was inquired if they were “too old” to be rookie idols.

At the time of this writing, RIIZE’s youngest member, Anton, is 19, while their oldest member, Shotaro, is 22. Eunseok and Sungchan are also 22, Wonbin is 21, and Seunghan and Sohee are also both 19. That gives them an average age of about 20.6.

There have only been three K-Pop groups — ONEUS, MONSTA X, and WINNER — who have debuted with an older average age, debuting at 20.7, 20.9, and 21 respectively.

Thankfully, the consensus from pretty much everyone commenting on the post was that the members certainly weren’t “too old” to debut as idols, and in fact, many wish it would become the norm.

It would be great to see it become more normalized for idols to debut in their 20s, and hopefully RIIZE can help to make that happen with their example!