Tag: ZEROBASEONE

A while back, I mentioned I would go back to review ZEROBASEONE’s pre-release single for their BLUE PARADISE mini-album. Well, today is the day. Doctor! Doctor! was released back in January, a month in advance to the release of BLUE PARADISE and the lead single BLUE. Keep your eyes open, as with this song review posted, an album review for BLUE PARADISE will be posted soon.

Since its release, Doctor! Doctor! has always been a pleasantly consistent listen. I use both ‘pleasant’ and ‘consistent’ in a positive way for this the purposes of this review. But I think more can be done to elevate the song further. Doctor! Doctor! is a contemporary R&B track that enables ZEROBASEONE to show off their vocal abilities. Their vocals are nicely executed throughout the song, and this vocal exclamation of the song’s title at the start and during the chorus is something that I instantly think of when the song does pop in my mind. The melodies are also quite nice. Doctor! Doctor! also features some rapping, and I liked the way this cuts through the vocals to give Doctor! Doctor! some much needed contrast and punchiness. The instrumental is where Doctor! Doctor! could have done more, in my opinion. It felt very standard for the most part, but I do appreciate the bass and percussion that do pick up the song.

The lyrics of Doctor! Doctor! likens falling in love to a illness, and asks the doctor for help to cure one of such illness. In the video, we see the members suffer from the symptoms of being in love, seeking the help of a doctor (played by South Korean actor Jung Kyung Ho). I thought the haziness and colour palette of the music video were particularly interesting, in the sense that it makes the video look dreamy, but also blurry like when we are unwell. Overall, a solid music video.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10

ZEROBASEONE is back with their 1st ever studio album, NEVER SAY NEVER. The album is led by the title track, ICONIK, following last month’s SLAM DUNK and the earlier single BLUE, (plus the mini-album BLUE PARADISE, which I have yet to review). This release is timely, as their original 2.5-year contract (starting in July 2023) leaves the group with less than 6 months remaining. But in some exciting news, WakeOne (the company that manages ZEROBASEONE) is looking to extend ZEROBASEONE’s contract. So there is hope for more music from ZEROBASEONE, potentially including another studio album.

ICONIK is a song with the potential to be awesome. It has only been a couple of hours since the song’s release, so it needs a few more listens to develop. However, with a strong first impression already made, ICONIK will likely grow on me easily. Throughout this dance track, the group incorporates funky and groovy elements boldly with its disco-pop style. I really liked this direction of ICONIK, but I just wish the chorus had a bit more time to breathe. It felt too tightly strung together. While it worked well in terms of intensity and boldness, it also made ICONIK‘s chorus feel like a fast-paced blur, preventing us from fully taking it in. The obsession with keeping a song under 3 minutes might have been a driver for this, and while it has helped make repetitive songs feel less so, I don’t think it was necessary here. The melodies in ICONIK ultimately fall victim to the fast pace and tightness, feeling slightly undeveloped and rushed at certain times. But it isn’t all bad news. Vocally, I felt ICONIK is strong, while KIM GYUVIN’s rapping was very sleek. I was very impressed with MATTHEW’s bridge, HAN SUNGBIN’s high note and KIM TAERAE’s ad-libs at the end.

According to SOOMPI, ICONIK “represents the path ZEROBASEONE has walked down as artists and expresses their determination to shine even brighter.” In the music video, we see the members in the midst of their journey they speak of in the song’s message, stopping at an airport along the way that serves as a midpoint of their trip. Their destination is probably wherever that floating jewelled star is. It may represent stardom, as we see one of the members grab onto a microphone and jump off it. I really liked the styling of the members throughout the video, as well as the cool post-production. I also liked how the producers ensured the energy in the video matched the song, which makes it very appealing to watch alongside the song.

I like how the choreography captures that funky and groovy side of the song, creating a very energetic performance to watch. The best part of the routine is undoubtedly the transition between the bridge and the final chorus, where the deep rumbling synths take centre stage, and the routine intensifies in that moment.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.5/10

It was confirmed recently that ZEROBASEONE would be making their comeback in September with their first studio-length album, titled NEVER SAY NEVER. However, while we have a bit more waiting to do until the album’s release, ZEROBASEONE has released the single SLAM DUNK as a teaser for their upcoming album. Their last release was the mini-album BLUE PARADISE, led by the singles BLUE and Doctor! Doctor!.

While the term ‘slam dunk’ can be used to describe something with guaranteed success, SLAM DUNK (the song) doesn’t hit that mark. It feels rather ordinary and plain by today’s standards. The track itself is a blend of EDM and hip-hop, featuring a shouty and chanty chorus. Unfortunately, this isn’t anything new in the world of KPOP, especially for male groups. Although I will admit that SLAM DUNK does showcase GUNWOOK’s rapping and reveals a new side of ZEROBASEONE that we have not heard before (thanks to the hip-hop influence). I appreciate how fitting the basketball sounds are for a song titled SLAM DUNK, but I thought their usage could have been less clumsy. I like how the bouncing basketball featured at the end of the chorus brought sharpness to the chorus, while the game sirens set the scene. However, the other use of the bouncing basketball and constant squeaky shoes embedded in the song felt overused, taking the novelty away from SLAM DUNK.

The music video for SLAM DUNK sees ZEROBASEONE struggle at first in a major basketball game, missing their shots and failing to score points on the court. One of the members also sustained an injury. But this doesn’t stop them from cheering themselves on and rising later in the game to emerge as victors of the championships. The rest of the music video is choreography shots. While I liked their choreography shots on the basketball court (after all, it makes the most sense), I am troubled by the massive basketball on the screen that just disappears as it gets closer to the members. I know it is just an image on the screen, but I think the producers could have done better.

SLAM DUNK‘s choreography naturally includes some basketball moves, including dribbling between the legs and shooting gestures during the chorus. It made sense, as leaving out basketball in the choreography would have felt off. I also liked how they incorporated some hip-hop influence into the routine. That said, I think they missed a chance to include cooler footwork, which could’ve replicated the sound of sneakers on a court.

Song – 6.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.3/10

ZEROBASEONE makes their grand return today with the new single BLUE and mini-album, BLUE PARADISE. It follows the pre-release single Doctor! Doctor!, which I will be reviewing soon. The new mini-album is the group’s first Korean release in 6 months, following their CINEMA PARADISE mini-album (album review coming) and GOOD SO BAD comeback in August last year. The group has also been busy in Japan with releasing their Japanese debut mini-album PREZENT last month and a new single NOW or NEVER.

But today’s post focuses on BLUE. BLUE is a pleasant alternative pop song that follows GOOD SO BAD quite nicely. The pleasantness comes from the airy and buoyant melodies, the underlying guitar we hear very clearly when the synth work is stripped away during the pre-choruses, and the refreshing synth instrumentation in the choruses. ZEROBASEONE’s vocals bring brightness to BLUE, giving it sweetness and a wholesome feel. Most of the song was enjoyable, and I liked it a lot. However, some parts in BLUE haven’t won me over yet (who knows what some more repeats of BLUE may do). The first is the way the chorus ended. It felt abrupt and sudden. A post-chorus would have helped offset this. The second is the rapping, which is a loss opportunity, in my opinion. While what we got in BLUE wasn’t bad, it played too safely with the pleasant trajectory. Listening to it closely, I wonder how a bit of roughness could have given the rapping some additional personality and oomph to make it even more memorable amongst the pleasantry vibes BLUE had throughout the song. Thirdly, the hooks don’t feel as established as they could be. BLUE is definitely more reliant on melodies given the song’s pleasant and vocal focus, but I wished the hooks were a little more enticing.

A clear blue sky symbolises a good day, and the members recall the fond memories of meeting someone special on that good day in BLUE‘s lyrics. The music video shows bright and beautiful days with clear blue skies throughout the video. Some of it is virtual, some is real life – all show us the consistent message of how good these days are. Even in some of the indoor shots, you can definitely get a sense of how blue the skies are by watching the good moods the members are in. Altogether, it’s definitely a feel-good video. As a small side note, the choreography scenes in the virtual world (i.e., the street with the changing buildings) reminded me of their Feel The POP music video from last year.

The choreography opts for a more flowy and airy approach, which works well with the song. Nothing that memorable, though the scarfs were a nice touch. I do want to point out that I didn’t notice how shouty the vocals were in the chorus until I watched the performance. But I am not disappointed by it. The shoutiness gives BLUE some character (more so than the audio version), and it was well-controlled and felt piercing in a good sense.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.2/10

ZEROBASEONE is back, returning on Monday with their 4th mini-album, CINEMA PARADISE. The lead single for this comeback is GOOD SO BAD. It follows ZEROBASEONE’s earlier 2024 comeback with You Had Me At Hello, led by the singles SWEAT and Feel The POP.

GOOD SO BAD kicks off the week strongly, in my point of view. I was drawn to the song within the first couple of seconds with the electronic muffling of the chorus. This sets up the song exceptionally well. From there, GOOD SO BAD follows through, eventuating it into a great song. This is as good as a first impression gets! I really enjoyed GOOD SO BAD’s electronic synth-pop instrumentation. It is so good that I wouldn’t mind listening to the instrumental version of GOOD SO BAD on loop. There were a few things within it that stood out to me. The first is the retro touches the instrumental had channeling through itself. The second is the forward trajectory of the instrumentation. Both of these, along with some excellent bass, really made the choruses pop out. Smooth melodies also help make GOOD SO BAD feel so satisfying. Put it all together, you get GOOD SO BAD flowing like butter, giving the new song its major selling point. The vocalists brought those smooth melodies to the table, sounding vibrant throughout the rest of the song. The lightness of their vocals made GOOD SO BAD approachable. As for the rapping, I enjoyed the pace of the rapping. The delivery still had a bit of a punch at times, but all fitted in nicely with the song’s tempo. The only lacking part of GOOD SO BAD was the ending, which felt like it was missing elements to draw it to a close. A cliché high note or ad-libs would have been an easy way to signal the end is coming. We got some in the bridge, but it felt too early. If done right, it would have closed out the song in a clean, simple, and satisfying manner and earned the perfect rating from me.

I was surprised to see Yoo Ji Tae feature as a novelist or writer in the music video. He begins the video by writing a line that says to let go of the special someone due to the pain they bring. But the video flips the script, with ZEROBASEONE falling in love with that special someone in a movie or show. In the lyrics, the song tells us to hold onto that special someone (unlike what was written by Yoo Ji Tae’s character in the initial seconds of the video). A singular line in the song’s chorus says it all – “The whole universe is saying ‘Don’t let her go’“. As the movie or show develops, something causes Yoo Ji Tae’s character to rewrite the script to change from ‘letting go’ to ‘Don’t let her go’. In the end, it is revealed that he is the writer of the movie or TV show that ZEROBASEONE acted in throughout the video. I thought it was a fun video with a unique but clever storyline. I also really enjoyed the vibrancy and youthfulness the members brought to the video, which made everything else feel bright and full of life throughout the video.

Like the song and video, I liked the vibrancy and energy the members brought to this performance. The routine also had a fun and light-hearted element, making it feel approachable. This made the whole routine worthwhile to watch. Their synchronisation and how easily they made the choreography flow were probably my highlights.

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

I am unsure if this is the right word to describe the overall song, but what comes to my mind is the word ‘sonic’. But yeah, GOOD SO BAD feels sonic and I like it.

Returning at the start of the week was ZEROBASEONE. And covering their latest comeback song, Feel The POP, at the end of the week is me! The new song is featured on the group’s 3rd mini-album You Had Me At Hello and Feel The POP follows the pre-release SWEAT (which I reviewed a couple of weeks back). The entire comeback follows on from their late 2023’s CRUSH.

I did check out Feel The POP when it was first released on Monday, but I didn’t get much from the track. I thought I give it a few days to see if it would grow on me slightly. But it only grew by a little and I am not sure if it can continue to grow on me anymore. Instead, my initial thoughts on the song stand. Feel The POP is indeed pleasant and enjoyable, but it feels very safe and ‘inside the box’. This hinders its appeal. Yes, I have described Feel The POP as pleasant and enjoyable (which are usually good positive terms to describe things by), but it is also neither fresh or different. The instrumental can be described in a similar manner. It feels subtly upbeat to be a summery track and I do like the hap-like synths in the background as it does bring some colour to the song. But at the exact same time, the background stayed rather neutral from start to end, and it didn’t develop into something exciting or with zing. I will say Feel The POP is focused on melodies and the singing was decent, but those same melodies felt thin and failed to make the song stand out. Same for the hooks. I thought the rapping could have been a good avenue to bring something different to Feel The POP, but said rapping was so limited and barely made a scratch into the song. I think it is safe to say that Feel The POP is very underbaked and doesn’t feel as fulfilling as their debut track (which is still their best effort, in my opinion).

As for the music video, there seems to be a few concepts going on visually, such as the modern Western cowboy theme, office workers, rich persons’ tennis playing and a more typical casual affair to close out the video. But they don’t seem to go together whatsoever. What does (loosely) joins the concept up is the supposedly cutesy apocalyptic event that causes alarm to others, but ZEROBASEONE handles quite coolly by smashing a tennis ball into a giant cactus and shooting down the giant bomb cloud. The world is saved and ZEROBASEONE proceeds to celebrate at the end of the video. I guess the intent of the video is supposed to be light-heart and summery, which the tennis scenes do give off. The rest of the video, now that I have summarised it on a page, does feel a bit wild, which is on brand for KPOP in some regards.

I feel like the choreography was the strongest aspect of the comeback. I really like the chorus routine, which brought some popping into the mix. Same goes for the bridge. And they were quite strong pops. Other than that, I liked the smoother feeling of the choreography for Feel The POP, which complements that pleasant tone that comes from the song.

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 6.7/10

ZEROBASEONE is due back in a couple of weeks on 13 May 2024 with their second comeback (mini-album titled You Had Me At Hello) since their debut last year. Ahead of the new comeback, ZEROBASEONE pre-released a single yesterday to tease us with. The single is titled SWEAT and marks the beginning of an early Summer. We last saw ZEROBASEONE through CRUSH in Korea and (more recently) through YURA YURA in Japan.

SWEAT is a solid pre-release track, though it does lacks a ZEROBASEONE personality. SWEAT doesn’t feel like it falls on a spectrum with the two extremes being In Bloom or CRUSH. However, I do think it is a bit on a pleasant side of another spectrum, which isn’t a bad thing. I do think SWEAT could have been more robust in its house-based instrumental to drive up the energy and excitement. Maybe that could have given SWEAT a ZEROBASEONE feel. That being said, SWEAT does still have a beat and kick to it that made it enjoyable and chill. The song displays a good showing of vocals from the members, though nothing mind-blowing to really attract attention. That was delegated to the catchy hook which got my attention at the first pass when I checked out the track yesterday. Interestingly, the producers opted to not include a rap sequence. I think SWEAT could have benefited from a punchy and edgy rap sequence to, once again, drive up the energy and excitement even further. Wrapping up my thoughts on the song, it looks like SWEAT could have been more. But as it is, it is fine track.

While there is a music video for the release, the title of the video categorise it to be more of a ‘SPECIAL SUMMER VIDEO’. They definitely got the Summer bit down, with an overall very sunny music video that sees the group perform on stage at a beach, in the middle of a long road surrounded by breezy long grass and during a shower, and in a field with a sunset background. I also like the easygoing and chill vibes of the video. In addition to all of that, I am sure fans are enjoying the plentiful closeup of the members in the video.

Released a couple of hours after SWEAT, the performance video on the M2 YouTube channel was actually quite engaging thanks to the camera angles and how the members made a connection with the camera at these angles. As for the choreography, there was a slight sensual vibe to it, which interestingly didn’t make it into the music video. Other than that, a solid routine.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10

As part of their November comeback with the CRUSH, ZEROBASEONE also released a music video for the side track MELTING POINT, which also comes from the same mini-album that CRUSH is featured on and also shares the same name as the side track. Today, I will be reviewing MELTING POINT (in case you can’t already tell).

As a whole, MELTING POINT comes out to be quite a fun track, especially when we get to the more up-tempo chorus. But there are two distinct motifs in this song, both of which complement each other quite well to form the one song that is MELTING POINT. The verses and bridge feature a dreamy approach, which allows the members to showcase a softer and lighter vocal charm. I liked how pleasant these parts of the song are. When we get to the choruses, the instrumentation intensifies and the song becomes hookier. The synths take on a more abrasive profile in the centrepiece of MELTING POINT, which offsets the dreamier approach in the verses and helps makes the chorus more memorable by boldening it. The chorus also makes that fun side of the song more prominent, and the members convey that same vibe off with their vocals. I did kind of wished there was something more to the second verse, so it doesn’t sound like a replica of the first one. But that is a small improvement to an already good side track.

The music video sees the members are all smiles in a winter wonderland. And to match the vibes of MELTING POINT, we also see a much brighter and light-hearted side to the members, a side that we saw in their debut but not the main music video for this comeback. There also seems to be a bit more to the video, with the fairy tale elements like the poison apple, a mirror, horse and telescope. I am not entirely sure what these elements are trying to portray, but I guess they contribute to the members looking for love to thaw out their heart (which might explain why some of the setting does melt away later on in the video), which is the message they express in the song.

The choreography features a slight cute undertone to it, which is a slightly different vibe than ZEROBASEONE has ever shown. Nothing that memorable comes out of the routine. But I did like the all-smile approach to the routine, which matches up with the tone of the song quite well.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 7.8/10