Prepare yourself for the first collaboration of 2021. Members from IZ*ONE (Eunbi, Sakura, Minju, Yuri and WonYoung) and former Sistar member Soyou have joined forces with pH-1 for the new single, ZERO:ATTITUDE. This new single forms part of the Pepsi X Starship Project, providing us with great collaborations between big KPOP artists since 2019. Other artists who have participated in this project include GFriend’s Eunha and VIXX’s Ravi (Blossom), Ong Seong Wu (Heart Sign), MONSTA X’s Hyungwon and former VIXX member Hongbin (Cool Love), Rain & Soyou (Beginning), Kang Daniel & Zico (Refresh) and CIX’s Bae Jin Young & WEi’s Kim Yo Han (I Believe).

Like majority of the collaborative efforts between the artists listed above, SOYOU and IZ*ONE do a pretty neat job with this single. I find ZERO:ATTITUDE to be super catchy, which reels me into the song even more. And this catchiness tempts me to press the replay button with its infectious sung-spoken hook. On top of that, the confident energy that is expressed in the lyrics comes off pretty well in the instrumentation. The vocals from both the IZ*ONE members and Soyou were very clean-cut, popping out over the EDM based instrumentation. I also felt the line distribution was pretty fair between the individuals who participated in the The instrumentation is a hit and miss for me. Aside from the positives that I have mentioned thus far about this element, I have to make the note that it is relatively plain. Currently, it feels suitable as a short and sweet commercial track (which is the whole purpose of this collaboration in the first place). If the instrumental was a little more interesting and spruced up a bit to be more dynamic, I think ZERO:ATTITUDE has what it takes to be an awesome title track as everything else is pretty much at that level for me. pH-1’s bridge was a bit random for my taste. I honestly thought the song could have done without this part, replaced with a dance break to boost the song’s dynamism. This is not critical of pH-1’s delivery as his rapping is awesome. It is more so that his trap breakdown sequence just didn’t fit the liveliness and pop roots of the rest of the song. But aside from that, ZERO:ATTITUDE is another strong collaboration between two big names in the industry.

In case you missed it, the music video for ZERO:ATTITUDE was a three minute long commercial for Pepsi’s newest Pepsi Zero Lime flavour. The walls are lined with cans of the drink and the members (per soft drink commercial protocols) down the drink in the music video. Thought I point that out. But aside from the video’s purpose, I am loving the overall urban aesthetics of the big screen, exposed scaffolding/stage structure and the outfits donned by Soyou, the IZ*ONE members and the dancers. It just felt on point and really showed off a sexier side that is synonymous with Soyou. It also felt suitable for the IZ*ONE members. I was wondering when the two parties would meet up to make this video and collaboration feel complete as they were pretty much separated throughout the first two thirds of the video. But they managed to bring the two parties together at the end, fulfilling my wish for this video.

The performance is pretty neat. I liked how it exudes confidence, fitting in with the song and its purpose. I also liked how good it made Soyou and the IZ*ONE members look.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10