ZEROBASEONE’s jubilant Sweat premiered a few weeks too early to fully capitalize on the summer season, but offered a taste of the upbeat energy the group would pursue on their new album. Title track Feel The Pop retains an upbeat sense of joy, but tempers the intensity by returning to the muted palette of their debut In Bloom.
Yep, we’re back to the drum-and-bass, UK garage influence that became a big trend last year. This sound already feels a bit overplayed, but a strong song could give it legs. Feel The Pop plays around with its production here and there. Its second verse is particularly engaging, as a few interesting synth textures punctuate the percussion. But when it comes to melodic hooks, the song fall short.
This is often where modern K-pop struggles. It’s like building an ornate structure atop shaky foundation. Feel The Pop is glitzy and brisk, but the the song feels slight (and even worse… kind of annoying). I’m not a fan of the lounge-style approach to the melodies. “Easy listening” has become a buzzword in K-pop and seems intent on robbing these tracks of their gutsy ambition. Feel The Pop unfolds like a catchy jingle, insistent and repetitive but with a soft filter thrown over the whole thing. Its sound and execution isn’t for me.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
Grade: C
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Im not joking, that string/violin/harp sound is what SAVES this song. This would sound like every other jersey-club song kpop has been recently obsessed with. But I like this. It just sounds like zerobaseone and its quite simple.
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The production was cute, but wish it was stronger. This song sounds oddly subdued. Ratings is same.
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It’s fine, but I prefer “Sweat” to this. I’m glad that even ZB1 themselves agree afaik.
tbh I wish the releases are swapped. “Feel the Pop” would’ve made a better pre-release while “Sweat” is title track worthy.
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I don’t know if it was just me, but I kept hearing a sample similar to the intro of Jeremih- Oui? I enjoyed the strings in the song, but it overall felt too generic.
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it’s not bad… just very safe and bland. it’s the worst song on the album as well. SWEAT should’ve been the main track and Sunday RIDE as the pre-release. their A&R team better get their shit together, they’re already choosing the good songs, they just need to pick the ones that are single-material.
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Sweat as title track and Sunday RIDE as promoted b-side would’ve been great. Can’t believe zb1 allegedly had to convince wakeone Sweat should be promoted.
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yeah, it’s baffling… whatever is going on in that company, they need to pack it up immediately. I should’ve known the sped up version was the first sign (and the lack of imsuho).
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I like the new EP a lot so far, but I also was saddened (still am) at imsuho and niko’s absence in the tracklist. Hopefully they can work with them again in the future.
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same! he should be making songs for every comeback tbh. he still needs to give them a song better than Jelly Pop.
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This fits their general sound but tbh Sweat should’ve been the tt. It’s too strong to be a bside. I like this for what it is but in terms of satisfaction Sweat met my expectations and got better every listen. 7/10
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I mistakenly thought Sweat was the title track and I still wish it was…I’m not feeling any kind of pop from this, it lacks energy and just fizzles out. But I liked the album and Dear Eclipse reminds me a lot of Over Me.
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This really is the most lackluster track on the album. No dynamics at all. Can’t understand the thought process of why this got title track privileges besides it’s on trend-ness. Sweat was the clear choice.
I enjoy Dear ECLIPSE and Sunday RIDE for b-sides though.
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I actually really like the song especially after listening to it a couple times but it’s missing something for me to truly love it. I really like the base melody and how light and spritely it feels and i like how it pairs with the beat but the hooks just need to be more fleshed out. Like you can’t just say “pop pop pop” and “lalala” and call it a chorus 😭 I wish there was just better, more robust writing for the hooks and it would be one of my favorite songs of the year. And i also wish it was more dynamic it is kinda one note throughout the whole song i think some varied sections instrumentally would have helped. It’s still solid to me tho and I stan them so I will have it on repeat regardless
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With all the references to pop and oddly enough, “zero pop,” it almost felt like a commercial. I was expecting to see a Coke bottle show up on the middle of the MV!
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I wouldnt blink if it really was a Coke ad song.
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Personally I love the song. I will admit it is slightly repetitive, but that is what makes the song catchy to me. I tend to enjoy somewhat repetitive songs if they have other interesting elements. I do wish we got a More typical kpop vocal heavy bridge (by Ricky of course), but I still like the song. Plus I love the choreo. just like super shy, memorable choreo makes songs more appealing to me (I picture the choreo in my head when listening, I can’t be the only person that does this right?)
I actually prefer this song over sweat, though I can recognize why others prefer sweat as a title track. the bsides on the album are also quite good (especially dear eclipse). I just love the members vocals so much, especially hao and taerae
However I still think in bloom >>>> feel the pop
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It’s a cute song but my rating is exactly the same as yours. Oddly enough though, zb1 songs always start off with a low rating then they grow hugely for me so I’m expecting the same thing to happen for this song.
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