On Wednesday, July 9, SM Entertainment announced the debut solo date for the former RIIZE member, Seunghan. The idol is expected to roll out his first release as a solo artist called Waste No Time, under his new moniker, Xnghan & Xoul. Along with the debut date announcement, the agency also revealed the teaser images for the upcoming release.
In these images, the idol was seen adorning long, layered black hair, and the pictures included both solo shots and group pictures with backup models. When these images landed on the internet, fans couldn't help but point out that the concept and his style for his solo career largely matched that of his former K-pop boy group, RIIZE.
For those who are unaware, Seunghan departed from RIIZE in October 2024 following the fallout of several controversies surrounding the idol. Therefore, fans were not only emotional about the idol's return to the industry after almost a year, but they were also overwhelmed to see much of his aesthetics resembling that of RIIZE. Here are a few fan reactions regarding the same:
"It's like he took the riize concept with him."
"his concept is more riize than riize" said a fan on X
"Thought this was riize" added another fan
"he singlehandedly brings back riize pre-debut concept" commented a netizen
On the other hand, fans and netizens also expressed their support and excitement towards the idol's return to the industry as a soloist.
"He’s been through so much it doesn’t matter which fandom we belong to let’s come together and support him. It’s the least we can do and he truly deserves nothing but the best" stated a fan
"this time the world will treat you right" added an X user
"this feels bittersweet, seung han im rooting for youuuuu" said a netizen
"That face and that talent were NOT made to stay unknown!!!" commented another X user
All you need to know about the departure of Seunghan from RIIZE and his new debut as Xnghan & Xoul
In November 2023, SM Entertainment revealed that RIIZE's Seunghan will be going on an indefinite hiatus. This followed the many controversies that landed on the internet surrounding the idol, including alleged pictures and videos of him smoking, leaked selfies with his reported former girlfriend, and more.
Due to the negative criticism from K-netizens for the same, it was decided that the idol would be on hiatus. As the group continued to roll out comebacks for almost a year after the hiatus announcement, in October 2024, SM Entertainment released a statement expressing that Seunghan will be slowly returning to his activities with the group.
However, this statement was soon followed after a few days by another statement that announced his departure. The statement expressed that due to the general reaction from K-netizens on the idol's return to the group, they had mutually decided that RIIZE and Seunghan part ways for the betterment of both the idol and the group.
Regardless, many fans endlessly fought through physical protests, boycotts, and online campaigns to bring back the idol into RIIZE as they felt it to be an unfair decision. However, Seunghan was soon announced to debut as a solo artist, and in June 2025, SM revealed that he would be promoting under a new English moniker called Xnghan & Xoul.
While Xnghan refers to the idol, Seunghan, Xoul alludes to the several collaborations that the idol will be taking part in at different times of his solo career. These collaborators can also come from various other fields, including music, such as performance, styling, art, and many more. Therefore, Xnghan & Xoul will be an artist brand that's primarily represented by Seunghan.
Following the announcement of his solo debut, fans and netizens have been emotional while also celebrating the idol's new venture and have been excitedly looking forward to the same.