As K-Pop has expanded worldwide, so has the popularity of Mnet survival-show-winning groups. In my time on the K-Pop scene, I’ve seen project groups continue to climb higher and higher and destroy previously made records in the industry. Starting off with I.O.I in 2016, the latest iteration of the mega popular project groups, ZEROBASEONE, has exploded in popularity worldwide. Second EP MELTING POINT marks the groups’ first official comeback four months after their debut in July.

Title track “CRUSH” currently sits at fifteen million views and is No. 9 on YouTube’s trending page just over 48 hours after dropping. The song itself is short and succinct, coming in under three minutes and packing a punch in the short timeframe. The opening melody is somewhat misleading, giving us a false security in a classic EDM driven beat before the pre-chorus hits us with a descending accidental melodic line leading into the chorus. Noise music at its finest, the chorus hits you with an unexpected conglomerate of percussive instruments before reverting back to the softer EDM beat. The difference is particularly jarring to my ears, but it does certainly make an impression, whether that be bad or good is subjective to the listener. I do like the classic dance EDM sound used for most of the song and wish we could hear what the composition of the track would be without the addition of the noise music. But maybe I’m just old and traditionalist that way. With each listen the song gets more addicting, minus the chorus.

The music video, to me, is very reminiscent of the previous project boy groups from Mnet: think “BOOMERANG” from WANNA ONE or “FLASH” from X1. There’s a heavy use of light and shadow, particularly in choreography shots, and a monochrome color palette for much of the background and outfits. Dark backgrounds and muted colors are contrasted by strong lighting to highlight the members in each of their solo shots.

As a side note, it’s been interesting to find the patterns amongst these project groups from Mnet, and the common threads among all of them become very obvious through the years, even with different agencies representing groups. Each generation is a media darling in their run, and gains even further popularity worldwide as K-Pop continues to expand the globe.

Watch the music video for “CRUSH” below!