ZEROBASEONE have at all times launched strong music, however they actually discovered their footing with final 12 months’s Cinema Paradise album. Teaming with Okay-pop legend Kenzie on title monitor Good So Dangerous was an impressed alternative, and the group has replicated that success with new single Blue. The track is nostalgic and energizing, buoyed by one of many 12 months’s finest choruses.

I at all times know we’re in for a deal with when a track’s refrain is teased ceaselessly earlier than its launch. The producers and company clearly believe on this hook and the melodies had been already caught in my head days earlier than the total track was launched. As you would possibly anticipate given this strategy, Blue gallops out of the gate with this full-fledged chorus. The vocal mix right here is so SHINee-coded, as if it may have sprung from one in every of their 2018-era albums. I’m certain that is because of the Kenzie connection, however ZB1’s highly effective vocals additionally deserve reward. Not each group can ship this type of track so nicely.

I’m unsure how I really feel about Blue‘s a number of slowdowns (the start of verse two may pop a bit extra), however when you already know its megawatt refrain is lurking round each nook it’s laborious to be dissatisfied with the association. The track’s liveliness is a wanted balm within the useless of winter, even when Blue feels higher suited to the summer time months. At their finest, its melodies have a hovering, open-hearted sound that makes you wish to shout on the prime of your lungs. Good So Dangerous grew on me massively over the months since its launch, however Blue is an on the spot hit.

Grade: A-