Released as a commercial song for Coca Cola, ‘Zero’ divided K-pop fans immensely upon its release. This was mainly because of its polarizing chorus, which is essentially a repeated chant of the phrases, ‘Coca Cola mashita’ and ‘See you look and catch it, here is my Cola’. What triggered the majority of the criticisms online was the apparently unabashed inclusion of the brand name itself within the song, as well as the fact that it uses a nursery rhyme as its chorus. Many argue that the chorus feels out of place and consequently ruins their listening experience.
While I can see where the criticisms come from, I would argue that ‘Zero’ has its merits, of which I can argue that it is one of my favorite K-pop songs of the year so far. This is mainly through its innovative and interesting production, particularly in its verses. There are certain moments in some songs which you simply will remember forever because of the way its producers composed it, standing out among practically everything you’ve listened to. For me, Zero’s verses manage to do just that.
Emphasizing off-beats
The vast majority of music today is composed of percussion which emphasizes the even beats within the song. To clarify what I mean, let me give an example with a classic 2/4 time signature. The most basic beat would go bass-snare within one bar. Obviously, a bass drum would fade into the background and become the backbone of the song, while the snare beat would be what would peak through all the instruments within a song. Because the snare is in the second beat, and 2nd is an even number, when I use the term ‘even beat’, it refers to the 2nd beat, or other even numbered beats. This classic bass-snare practice of writing percussion lines, or at least, those that emphasize the even beats has made the foundation of many songs in the last several decades. If you take a typical number 1 pop song, for example, ‘Blinding Lights’ by the Weekend, it would use the same percussion pattern, placing the bass drum before the snare drum.
With this established, ‘Zero’ breaks this mold by emphasizing the high percussion, or the snares, in the off beats, the 1st instead of the 2nd beat within a bar. This creates a very interesting effect on the listener as it defies expectations. This production choice creates the illusion that the song started a beat early, which makes it sound like it is constantly lurching forward, creating an unusual momentum. About the song’s purpose, one may argue that it almost parallels the state of being in which one is rushing to buy a Coke. Could be a reach, but that is what I envision when listening to it. I find this very fascinating and this alone really makes it completely stand out from any other song I’ve listened to.
When you think of commercial songs to advertise something, it needs to attach themselves to a unique and memorable sound to establish their identity and purpose so that when listeners listen to the song, they are immediately able to connect the brand with a certain sound. In the case of ‘Zero’, I would strongly argue that the unique production choice of emphasizing the song’s off-beats immediately makes it memorable and enables it to establish its identity firmly. This would hence make it successful in what it aimed to do.
The Chorus also does its job- arguably.
While controversial, ‘Zero’s chorus also adds on to my previous point. The song’s target audience is the Korean general public, and the use of the famous nursery rhyme certainly helps it strike a chord with a wide age range. This decision would be much safer from a business perspective as creating a new chorus altogether, which would need to be an extremely effective catchphrase that embeds the brand’s identity on it, is quite difficult. Additionally, whether one likes it or not, the chorus would get stuck in one’s head at some point because it is that effective and sticky. Negative or mixed reactions are still reactions, generating engagement, views, translating into money for the company, etc. When the points mentioned are taken collectively, I believe there is a strong argument that ‘Zero’ manages to achieve its aims as a commercial song well. Indeed, many people paid more attention to Coca-Cola because of the song.
The question of whether one enjoys listening to the chorus is completely subjective, but even though I did not get it at first, I grew to enjoy it. There are no songs out there which are released recently that do the same thing that ‘Zero’ did. There is a fair likelihood that if you are a person with an open mind (like me) that when a song comes out that does something that other songs don’t, you may end up liking it. This is the case with ‘Zero’. The chorus is cute, catchy and fun to sing along to. Of course, its verses and pre-chorus are arguably objectively stronger, but by no means the chorus is the worst thing I’ve heard.
Usually, I advocate for focus within song production, implying smooth transitions from section to section. However, with a commercial song like Zero, the abrupt transition into its chorus works because it became something to look forward to as the chorus is the sheer catchphrase of the song. Additionally, with its verses and pre-chorus having such interesting production, it is easy to let go of any unpleasant reservations about the somewhat rough transition.
Overall, even though NewJeans’ ‘Zero’ certainly caused a lot of controversy, I don’t think it is fair to say that the song has little merit, or that the chorus makes the entire song trash. Of course, there are some things that one will simply never like, and that is okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, there are still things one can acknowledge that are done well within something they don’t like. That is the beauty of nuance. Within Zero, there are at least a couple of things that it deserves praise. And again, as a commercial song, I think ‘Zero’ really works well.
At the end of the day, love it or hate it, ‘Zero’ is certainly memorable. I sincerely look forward to what NewJeans comes out with next.
My rating:
Hooks – 8
Production – 10
Vocal Delivery – 10
Overall – 9
K-pop Evaluated 
Leave a comment