Song Review: SWEAT – ZEROBASEONE

I would like to preface this post by apologising to ZEROBASEONE that I had not reviewed their last few comebacks on my blog. When my summer holidays officially begin (My first year at college is coming to a close!), I will definitely make up for all the K-pop releases I missed the last few months. I may have a controversial opinion, but I genuinely think that their last title Korean track, ‘CRUSH’, is stronger than their debut, ‘In Bloom’. I particularly appreciated how every second of the song streamlined towards its goal with unwavering focus, making for a very satisfying listen. Their Japanese debut, ‘YURA YURA’, is also another hit, with euphoric melodies that evoked coming-of-age nostalgia and undisputed fun. So far, ZEROBASEONE, similar to RIIZE, has not missed yet. ‘SWEAT’ continues this streak-though it goes a slightly different direction.

Every single one of ZEROBASEONE’s title tracks, be it Korean or Japanese, has incorporated a bass and drum production as its baseline. However, ‘SWEAT’ (though technically not a title track but I’ll count it as one anyway) leaves this trend behind and instead opts for a more classic ‘K-pop’ sound. It is a little hard to articulate, but ‘SWEAT’ strongly reminds me of what 3rd Gen groups would release during summer, even pairing it with a quintessential K-pop hook, ‘rampampampampam’.

Its melodies are very solid, and the songwriting feels tight. This time, they managed to find a way to more smoothly incorporate members who usually don’t get too many lines (such as Gyuvin) into the song, and it is great to see. As always, ZEROBASEONE delivers a strong vocal performance, having enough punchiness to see the potential of the melody all the way through.

Overall, this shift back into a third Gen-esque sound is quite welcome amidst the new trend of minimalist sounding songs that is spearheaded by NewJeans and the newly debuted ‘ILLIT’ (of which I shall write about soon). I also appreciate this kind of sound, but there is something so satisfying to hear the sounds that have always defined K-pop make a comeback like this.

One thing that I am a little concerned about is that the melodies may not age too well, and I say this mainly based on my instinct. I could be totally wrong though, but I do have some reservations into giving it too high a score. For this one, I’m going more with ‘feeling’ rather than thinking too much about the technicalities, because I think it is technically really solid. Even the vocal mixing is better than usual, especially compared to ‘In Bloom’. This leaves ‘SWEAT’ at a slightly awkward position. I am not sure why exactly it gives me this feeling either, but time will tell.

Hooks – 9
Production – 9
Vocal Performance – 10
Overall – 9.25