Tag: ALPHA DRIVE ONE

Back in August, ALPHA DRIVE ONE made their comeback with their second mini-album, Unbreakable: 少年Beast, led by the single BORN DIRE. I haven’t reviewed the comeback single yet, so I am finally posting my thoughts on their latest single today. ICYMI – ALPHA DRIVE ONE is the group formed from the winning trainees from BOYS II PLANET, and they made their debut quite early in the year with FREAK ALARM. They later returned in May with OMG! (I also haven’t reviewed it, but I’ll try to by the end of the year!)

Also, you might have noticed the lack of reviews for rookie groups this year. Don’t fret, because there will be another Rookie Week in November!

Anyhow, BORN DIRE is an intense dance track that throws you straight into British Rave and punk rock blend from the start. I remember my ears perking up within the first few seconds at the intensity and dynamic energy when I first checked out the song. That was a good sign for BORN DIRE, with the first few seconds capturing the essence of what would be a memorable aspect of the song. I really liked the focus on punk elements in the instrumental break, as well as the concentration in BORN DIRE‘s final moments. Beyond the production, the members’ delivery was also strong. I liked that you could consistently hear them clearly amid the instrumentation, and their execution was compelling. If anything, I felt their verse parts could have been bolstered to add more depth to the track. My biggest issue with BORN DIRE was the lack of a memorable hook. What we got was decent, but it didn’t match the bar the instrumentation set.

Whoever did the visual effects for this music video needs a pay raise yesterday. I was blown away (and still am) by all of the post-production in this music video. BORN DIRE conveys the message of not stopping and continuing to race even amid the chaos of control. In the music video, we see society trying to track and potentially control the members, who are seen as beasts (cue the gargoyle and wing imagery). While dodging cameras and the people literally holding them back, the members climb to the top to embrace what society fears about them. This concept has been done before, but it feels perfectly suited to today.

The word intensity is getting its work out today, and the performance definitely captures that aspect of the song well. On top of that, the synchronisation between the members looked insane and made the performance super cool. XINLONG’s slight b-boy moves in the first pre-chorus and the dance break by SANGWON, ANXIN, XINLONG, and ARNO also add to that coolness factor.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9.1/10

While not technically part of the rookie fortnight coverage, coverage of a 2026 rookie group wouldn’t hurt. ALPHA DRIVE ONE (or ALD1 for short) was formed through MNET’s survival show BOYS II PLANET, which aired last year. Unlike previous iterations of the survival show, only the top 8 trainees would go on to form the project group, with this one expected to last 5 years. In the end, Junseo (member of WEi), Arno, Leo (solo artist), Geonwoo, Sangwon, Xinlong (member of BOYSTORY), Anxin, and Sanghyeon made the final lineup of the group. Earlier this week, they released their debut single, FREAK ALARM, the title track of their debut mini-album, EUPHORIA. The group had previously pre-released the single FORMULA in 2025.

Personally, I really liked the way FREAK ALARM opened. SANGWON’s slightly husky voice delivering the song’s hook, with no instrumentation, in the first couple of seconds, was actually a good opening. Then, FREAK ALARM throws us into a shouty chorus. I appreciated the bombastic instrumentation and the funky undertones. But the shouty delivery is, by today’s standards, pretty generic and lacks originality. In the context of FREAK ALARM, it is okay. But I just have a feeling this might not be the last title track from them that will feature the shouty delivery (given how mainstream the motif has become). Moving along, I liked that the funky undertones continued into the verses amid the boom-bap beats. I kind of wish they explored more of this funkiness – there is some potential there that can help ALPHA DRIVE ONE forge something of their own. I liked how stripped back the opening of the third run of the chorus was, which was a nice recall of the opening. FREAK ALARM then enters its best part, the bridge, which features a brief dreamy motif and a strikingly intense ramp up to the final chorus (which, for some reason, felt like it zipped by very quickly). Good vocals and rapping also feature throughout FREAK ALARM, but nothing really to help differentiate ALPHA DRIVE ONE from the rest of KPOP at the moment.

The music video for FREAK ALARM was quite cool. I really liked the use of the white and silver palette for most of the video – it looked very chic and stylish. The same can be said about their all-black attire at the end of the video. Some of the effects were pretty cool, like the lowering ceiling in the middle of the video during the choreography shot and the cracks that appear whilst a member was jackhammering in the kitchen (because where else do you bust out a jackhammer inside the home). But the coolest element in my personal view, which is an indication of my age, was the plentiful storage options throughout the music video.

As a whole, the choreography was intense, and the synchronisation between the members made it look very cool. But nothing stood out on its own, which I really wanted to see to set them apart from the competition.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 7.5/10
Overall Rating – 7.7/10