A temporary boy group based in South Korea caught my attention enough to where I've purchased physical units of Korean language music. Yeah sure it's KPOP and yeah, what a wild fuckin' time to get into the genre for real. However, there is very good reason this group did the impossible and had me impressed by men in pop music, let alone a KPOP boy group.
Firstly, who the fuck is Zerobaseone/ZB1 you ask? ZB1 is a boy group formed from the MNET survival show Boys Planet. If you want an idea of a survival show, basically take the mess of MTV's Making the Band Season 3 Season 2 and multiply by the number of contestants on any given one of those. As it stands, ZB1 is in the midst of (but toward the limit of) a two year, six month contract and if any type of renewal happens, cool. Otherwise, it'll be a contract met and they're done being the group (which would suck for reasons I'll get into, but that's the gist of a group formed on a survival show.)
ZB1 gets formed on the finale of Boys Planet, April 20th, 2023 but don't release a debut effort until July 10th, 2023. The lineup/OT9 (which I think means "Original Top 9") is comprised of the group leader Sung Hanbin, along with the members listed from oldest to youngest: Kim Jiwoong, Zhang Hao, Seok Matthew, Kim Taerae, Ricky, Kim Gyuvin, Park Gunwook & Han Yujin. Their debut single is "In Bloom", and their debut EP Youth in the Shade (which gets called a mini-album in the KPOP markets and I'm telling you right now; what constitutes an "album"/"mini-album"/"single", etc. is a goddamn mess.) "In Bloom" peaks at #38 in South Korea, while their debut effort peaks at #1 and sells over 2 million which was and still is fucking insane for a group formed on a survival show.
As for Youth in the Shade as an EP, it's marked by two things: potential of the group shown and a solo song that's part of the prize package for one of the members in particular. Across six songs, three of them are 10/10 and the others aren't bad; just songs that I don't return to from this EP. The 10/10s include "In Bloom", but a special note to the songs "Our Season" (which despite not being a single proper, did get a cinematic music video) along with "And I" in particular. Across all three of these songs that hit, nine seemingly random 20-somethings (and the "little brother" of the group who was 16...that's not even the youngest to debut in a group in South Korea but still) came together and sang beautifully even with some of them doing the pop attempt at rapping (or whatever the non-vocally melodic emission of spoken word is technically called since it's not completely rap.)
"In Bloom" might be flowery per the music video, but it's undeniably ebullient and displays ZB1's potential when all 9 of them get given something to highlight this. "Our Season" shows off group vocals against what's basically the most "rock" sound a KPOP group can be given. "And I" is for those who love mid-90s R&B flavored pop music with airtight harmonies (which help look past some of the dated as fuck references to modern social media, but hey only so much in a song, right.)
The solo song featured on it is "Always", which fulfills a solo prize for Zhang Hao as he finished Boys Planet in 1st place and became the first foreigner to place 1st in a South Korean survival show. The song is fine for what it is, but babe I came here for the group, so a solo song wasn't gonna be the T for me. The other songs on this EP, "Back to ZEROBASEONE" and "New Kidz on the Block" are also solidly fine 8/10s each of them with their uses but nothing I return to from the EP. However, the effort is still solid considering this is a fan voted group that survived the editing hand of MNET and all 9 of them are capable of singing.
That much is gonna be hammered home throughout this series because certain members are looked at in one regard only. I don't like this outlook because it's unfair to the fact that these people were put through the wringer and then some to be able to sing and dance. But the split isn't just for singer and dancer, there's also something uniquely stupid and patronizing within KPOP: being the "visual" of the group or what's basically "the hot one" but framed as "the one you can't look away from". I mean sure, image and looks and all that shit but that's not the point.
The "singer" of the group is considered to be Taerae, the "dancers" of the group are considered to be Matthew, Gunwook, Gyuvin and Yujin and the "visuals" of the group are considered to be Jiwoong and Ricky. Hanbin and Hao are the "all-rounders" or the ones noted for seemingly equal yet superb output in regards to singing and dancing (with Hanbin leaning to dancing and Hao leaning to singing). Firstly, this is just labeling run amok because the "singer" learned to dance as well and at least two of the "dancers" have actually shown off stellar vocals throughout this group's run. But also, the "visuals" of the group know how to sing as well and are pretty good dancers (but to me, if you're a singer: you should know how to sing.)
Cut to the follow-up effort, the November 6, 2023 released EP Melting Point. The single from this EP is "Crush" which is listed as "drum and bass" and "Jersey club" (further proof that genre classification on Wikipedia can be absolutely batshit crazy) but is considered "pots and pans" to fans and casual listeners. Here's what I mean: "Crush" was not warmly received by all fans of the group. I don't know why, as I like "Crush" and think the group could always be presented a little edgier than what's considered commercially viable (more on that in Part 3). But there were problems in this era that thankfully get corrected in 2024 (besides not releasing anything in fucking November).
"Crush" peaked at #88 in South Korea which was a full 50(!) spots lower than the debut from months earlier. That and the music program performance was...well, not good. "In Bloom" won 3 times in a music program setting (The Show and Show Champion) and "Crush" didn't get shit. Then again, releasing in November is usually a stupid move, double that by the time most of the promotion efforts on it went toward the winter themed song and title track "Melting Point" which was the bad kind of course correction: instant sanitization of something edgy from before. In a matter of days, the group went from "about as edgy as we can get in KPOP" to "don we now some gay apparel, Christmas looking pastel sweaters" for "Melting Point".
Across the five songs on Melting Point, two of them (including "Crush") are good. "Crush" being a single seemed fine, yet there's a song that could've been said double A-side with "Crush". That being "Take My Hand" which is decidedly a bit edgier than "In Bloom" was but wasn't so "pots and pans" or such a sharp turn from the flowery elements of the debut. There's something UK garage to "Take My Hand" that would've made as much sense as a single as "Crush" did.
It's not like I actively hate all 3 of the songs I don't return to. Just one of them because the less I think about "Kidz Zone", the better (but we're gonna get to the low point in this group's discography soon). "Melting Point" isn't bad, but it has all the schmoozy, flower crap that's annoying and lowkey patronizing to the potential this group had and still can tap into with only so much time in their contract left. Then there's the ballad "Good Night". This begins to present a unique problem this group would learn to contend with and honestly, not get right in Korean until their September 2025 album Never Say Never but more on that in Part 3.
"Good Night" is a fine attempt at a ballad, if a bit milquetoast and underwhelming. However, with any singer or group, you're playing with matches near a gas tank trying to get ballads right. Giving them any ol' shit to sing over is a surefire way to fuck it up, but that's not the problem here. Ballads require a singer's technical ability and performance value to be airtight and balanced with one another. If anything feels lukewarm or not all the way there, nothing gels and with "Good Night", this was not played to the group's strengths vocally. The twinkly production is fine, but the vocals not matching? That's just questionable direction, best case scenario.
Then cut to the May 13th, 2024 EP You Had Me at Hello. Word of warning, I don't like this EP. The two good songs here are career highlights and I get my life and all that, but the career nadir of this group is in this EP. It's within this era of the group that a release strategy change is in order. Contending with a widespread problem in KPOP of "we spent so much time on this, please enjoy our 2-3 week promo as we try to win music program trophies and put up with TV personalities on variety shows", ZB1 and co. decide on a single before the EP releases which gets labeled as a "pre-release" and kind of doesn't count as a single (which, gurl bye. It's a fucking lead single unless it underperforms and then it's called a "promo" single.)
April 24th, 2024 saw the release of "SWEAT" as a pre-release single and this is the first of two career highlights and good songs on this EP. It's a house flavored dance track and has some of the best line distribution to the group's name. All that means is that there's distinct moments where all 9 of the members get seemingly equal footing on a song. But then disaster strikes because despite "SWEAT" being good (and lowkii, their gayest song but more on that in Part 2), it becomes the group's first song to not chart in South Korea. iCannot, iWillnot, iRefuse, iShant, iShallnot, iWonteth, etc. I mean yeah sure, the music video looks like it ran out of its budget by the end, but the song itself still bangs.
Then comes the EP release day and in turn the single "Feel the Pop". Folks, this is the career nadir of the group. Do not let its #39 peak in South Korea or its five music program wins fool you, this song is ass. "Cheeks"/"buns" whatever, just know this song is fucking atrocious. Aside from a music video which was bad (and honestly, didn't deserve a big budget given that "SWEAT" literally came weeks before), "Feel the Pop" is another form of course correction after underperformance that somehow ended up worse than what "Melting Point" was to "Crush".
"Feel the Pop" is all the sugary but sickly bullshit that supposedly comes with the territory of KPOP. It's lyrically derivative [the fact that "zippy zippy" is the least stupid thing said in that song is a scarlet red flag], sonically sophomoric and just outright pandering and borderline insulting (this was well before something called "Soda Pop" from a Netflix animated movie, but that's not the point now.) But that's not the only tonal downside to You Lost Me, eww God No...err You Had Me at Hello.
The EP this go round is marked by some attempts toward butching up these Marys or trying to ease them into something edgier than most of their previous releases but without it coming across as sharply as "Crush" did on the last one. However, most of these songs are lacking something that can suit the group. The less I say about "Solar Power" and its horrendous attempt at WWE wrestling entrance level pop-rock, the better. "Hello" is another case of this group being given a ballad that doesn't do shit for their singing ability and feels like an obligation. "Dear Eclipse" comes close to being an 8/10 but feels forced, even with Ricky being able to fit the direction the song was going.
But finally, the second and last good song on this EP, "Sunday Ride". It's the kind of summer song that should've been released, especially over "Feel The Pop". "Sunday Ride" is the right kind of bright that still sounds like the group is coming together on it and showing off their vocal ability (despite KPOP being showmanship and all that; gurl I don't give a fuck. In the words of Whitney Houston, "I listen to SINGERS".) Plus, "Sunday Ride" has a distinct piano driven melody that's very similar to "A Little Bit of Love" by Brenda Russell and in turn "The Way" by Ariana Grande. The fact this wasn't a single is just flat out idiocy on several people's part.
Something that's sadly established at this point, is that in line distribution, Jiwoong, Gunwook, Ricky, Yujin and Gyuvin barely get anything, but Ricky, Yujin and especially Gyuvin don't get shit on these songs. Hanbin, Hao, Taerae and Matthew do get given a lot (especially Hao and Hanbin), but it presents an ugly truth competitive TV viewers first got back in the days of Popstars: USA and even Making the Band 3 Season 3: producers hear the voices of people in the group and then distribute or say "this person sings this, you get this and you do background", etc. and that just points out the self-defeating hyper-cyclical purpose of survival shows of which make acts like ZB1.
Note I didn't say "produce" for that one, but it applies here anyway. Survival shows have been hyper-cyclical "life or death" or "debut or flop" situations in which contestants are subject to competitive reality programming editing. People that watch RuPaul's Drag Race pert near religiously simply nodded their heads because they know what's going on. For those slightly out of the loop, a very shorthand version of editing is that it's a form of "story" that a competitive reality program has for the kind of contestants they like and don't like (sometimes more lopsided than the other and it's never just one kind of lopsidedness depending on who you ask.) Survival shows come under sharp criticism due to some of the outlandish shit that is alleged to have happened during filming but mostly due to the "edit" or TV portrayal that a contestant is given/not given/falsely labeled, all that shit.
In the case of MNET, the survival show eating of its tail hits a little closer to home given that a voting manipulation scandal in 2019 basically wrecked their whole shit and they had to remove their previous reality franchise and then rebrand into the "planet" series. For those involved in competitive reality programming like a survival show, they contend with illusion of choice inspired fan voting but also how to treat judges' feedback like anything more than what the network supposedly wants to happen anyway. It eschews responsibility from say, the record label the group is then signing their contract with or even the judges from having to decide between the contestants themselves. The good thing about MTV's Making the Band was that it was just the decision of the person hosting/label head/head honcho figure making the decision. It fell on them and they knew that and went with it anyway.
As for the potential shown within these releases, it does show a lightning in a bottle moment of fans (illusion of choice notwithstanding because whatever) getting a lineup absolutely right (even with the 9th named member being 16, every group has the little brother or the youngest type they baby to within an inch of their sanity and that's not changing) and even success being established from the ever fledgling market of winners from competitive reality programming.
Highlights:
"And I" 🥇
"Our Season" 🏆
"In Bloom" 🏆
"Take My Hand" 🥇
"Crush" 🏆
"SWEAT" 🥇
"Sunday Ride" 🥇
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