After an extended group hiatus, Billlie are returning in a big way with their first full album. They teased us last week with the dancefloor-ready Work, which turned out to be a sonic marker that title track ZAP continues on from. This is a pricklier beast of a song, but still firmly targets the clubs.

Over the past year or two, K-pop acts have had a difficult time finding a way to merge memorable melodies with dance beats. ZAP falls victim to these same struggles. When melody does pop through in the song, it’s the kind of generic, truncated build during a pre-chorus that feels more functional than transcendent. Most of ZAP consists of shouting or shout-rapping, with its titular phrase employed many times throughout the track. It’s a bit atonal in places — a ton of sound and fury and attitude supporting very little song. Those who enjoy K-pop for its energy and visual spectacle may find something to latch onto here, but as a piece of music ZAP is more concerned with texture than composition.

Speaking of texture, ZAP‘s gurgling instrumental has interesting character. It’s a bit NCT in its herky-jerky rhythms and I can easily imagine a sleeker, more streamlined song succeeding over this beat. Unfortunately, ZAP‘s verses do little for me and its cacophonous chorus is too fragmented to leave much of a mark. A shouty dance break is especially exhausting. The song badly needs stronger topliners, which is something you could say about much of the K-pop industry at the moment.

Grade: C