Though it took awhile to really hit me, ZEROBASEONE’s In Bloom proved to be one of the year’s most refreshing boy group tracks. Better yet, its accompanying album laid out a consistent style and vibe for the group, merging upbeat pop with hazy, subdued production. Remnants of that sound remain on new single Crush, but they’re undone by a predictably noisy shout at its center.
I really thought we were moving away from this songwriting trope in boy group K-pop, but just like an unkillable monster in a horror movie, producers can’t resist bringing it back. Much of Crush hinges on the skittering drum and bass sound that popped up often on the group’s debut album, and these segments are successful (if a bit obvious in their execution). There’s a universe where Crush blooms into a complementary chorus that boosts the track to another level. It wouldn’t even be difficult to write, given the song’s set-up.
Instead, Crush opts for a dull centerpiece. When it’s not needlessly abrasive, the melodies take a repetitive turn that doesn’t grab me. The frenzied percussion underlining this hook is cool on its own, and may have stood out on a different song. However, Crush is too fragmented for any of its highlights to stick. Once again, I must bemoan the presence of sixteen (!) songwriters on the track. I’m not sure it’s possible to get anything but a hodgepodge of ideas with that many creators behind music that is — ultimately — pretty straightforward. Instead, you get a comeback that tries to do too much and ends up doing too little.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
Grade: C
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Well I like. Heck, small ell love it. It just shoots out of the gate all skittering along, and doesn’t relent.
16 songwriters? Goodness. If it took half of them to add a drum fill layer over an otherwise conventional half-time drop chorus, almost fulling concealing its true nature, then it was worth it. The outro is nice too, thought it could have used more oomph, louder, more multilayered voices, all together last time with feeling-style.
Mid 8’s for me.
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Ooh, you’re right, a more full-throated outro would have really sent this home. Crossing my fingers we get that in the live stages, where I think this song will really come to life.
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If they took that noisy part of the chorus out, Crush would have been a decent title track. As it is, it’s the weakest track on the album. With the exception of Back to Zerobase, I much prefer this album to Youth in the Shade. It’s more upbeat and varied–Kidz Zone and Take My Hand especially stood out to me. However, one nitpick I have overall with ZB1 is that unlike EVNNE there are no organic rappers in this group, so the rap lines sound forced and take me out of the song. I would much rather hear their amazing vocalists with all their different vocal textures.
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Gunwook is a good rapper but he just isn’t given the opportunities to write his raps so he gets hidden. But I agree overall there needs to be less rapping/rap-talking in the group like most of these guys were on the show as vocalists
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certainly not better than In Bloom but I like how it retains the same sound with something added to it, although frustrating. everything surrounding the first half of the chorus is actually really good.
the album on the other hand is amazing – we got another amazing opener in MELTING POINT, and Take My Hand is magnificent. I gotta hand it to their A&R team for not doing a 180 right away, they know what they’re doing. they just might become THE Produce group with the best discography to me (fingers crossed 🤞).
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This song makes me a little bit angry because there are so many elements that could have made this song FANTASTIC imo but it is all dampened by one thing: that beat drop. I understand wanting a bit of oomph in the song (especially since one of the biggest criticms of In Bloom was that it was too mellow) but that should not be at the expense of a good hook. I actually LOVE the second half of the chorus although I think it could have a better hook too but if the song just went straight into that part as the main hook, I think it would be one of my favorite songs of the year. I absolutely adore the synthpop+dnb combo theyre going for as their sound, just take out that beat drop and its perfect. Well I would like longer verses too tbh.
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I’m really disappointed by the chorus. They could’ve done something different instead of dedicating half of the chorus to shouting smh.
It’s such a shame because the rest of the song is pretty solid.
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disappointing chorus? check. generic on all fronts? check.
7.25/10
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I appreciate the similar sound to In Bloom, there’s a sort of dark apocalyptic savior vibe to it, but that beat drop is so obnoxious. That bridge to final chorus showed me what could’ve been. The first verse is interesting – it sounds like a song intro but turns out to be an actual verse. Think they could’ve played around with that some more, which would extend the time of this song. While I sorta like ZB1’s musical direction, I don’t know if I think their vocals suit it. It may have to do with how their vocals are produced and compressed.
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I was just about to say a similar thing. I heard some people comment on how their vocals on In Bloom did not sound great, but personally I did not find this to be an issue at all – I think that song and vocals are great. But with this one, the vocals sound a bit discordant, and as you said, compressed weirdly. It’ll probably end up growing on me but I don’t like how they’ve made them sound on this one
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don’t bother with it growing on you, not worth it, it sounds TOO discordant
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I can’t quite grasp why but there is something a bit beguiling in this song, like I want to come back to it even though I don’t immensely enjoy it. With the overall vocal tone/musical direction and the hold that ZB1 members may have on people that watched the show, I feel like some kind of “siren” (triton?) concept would suit them well next
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I’m a zerose and I’ll be dead honest, I can’t come back to this, it’s jarring, boring and everything I DIDN’T hope for.
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not my personal taste at all. their vocals are not pleasant at all
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Two lines into the song and I stopped it. I just could not. Its a joke of a song.
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