At their first North American appearance since rearranging to a five-member group, ZEROBASEONE deliver the most thrilling — and important — set of KCON’s weekend.

Three years ago, when ZEROBASEONE had just debuted and still had nine members, they performed at KCON for the first time. I was there for that performance, and the excitement was palpable. Boys Planet, the show that formed the boy group, had become a cultural phenomenon in K-pop fandom spaces. Not since IZ*ONE, a girl group produced by PRODUCE 101, had a project-based group generated so much attention or such large sales. In their first week as a group, ZEROBASEONE sold over 1 million albums of YOUTH IN THE SHADE. I loved their first single “In Bloom”, and while Mnet quickly hailed the group as the start of the fifth generation, they seemed almost reminiscent of older groups and a more nostalgic time in K-pop. ZB1 felt like a group strictly made for K-pop: Their music was never necessarily one to trend hop onto sounds that were popping off in North America, and their members felt more representative of what Koreans look for in idols (soft, sweet, innocent) than what Western fans want (buff, macho, highly masculine).

ZEROBASEONE was also a group primarily made for KCON. They are managed under WAKEONE, a subsidiary of CJ ENM, a conglomerate that runs KCON. This year, the festival seemed almost overrun with project-based groups that have appeared in CJ shows: JO1, ALPHADRIVEONE (the next winner of a less viral Boys II Planet), izna, MODYSSEY (a Chinese unit peeled off from Boys II Planet). Taken together, these groups felt like watching the machinery of K-pop in real time: groups are brought together, run heavily for a few years, and then split apart.

ZEROBASEONE, though, is different. This year, the group was split in half. Zhang Hao, Ricky, YUJIN, and GYUVIN left WAKEONE in the spring to form AND2BLE, while HANBIN, the leader, JIWOONG, GUNWOOK, SEOK MATTHEW, and KIM TAE-RAE remained in ZB1. Their last show together was a bitter, heartbreaking watch as the members sobbed and seemed genuinely distraught about being split apart. It felt like the end of an era, and a missed opportunity. Why had ZB1 never been given the chance to tour outside of Asia? Why did their potential, which seemed so vast in 2023, feel squandered three years later?

I was surprised that their last comeback Ascend- was actually my favorite since their debut. They seemed hungry this time around, eager to prove themselves and show that they could still reach the heights we wanted when they first debuted.

KCON centered a large amount of the festival around the group: HANBIN, arguably a perfect idol with no scandals, had been appointed the “ambassador” for the festival, appearing in promo videos playing before the beginning of each M COUNTDOWN and appearing as an MC throughout each night. This year, ZEROBASEONE performed for a full hour, thanks to KCON allowing headliners a longer time slot than before. And perhaps because the boys had never performed in Los Angeles (or North America for that matter) for longer than 15 minutes, they felt they had something to prove.

As they took the stage at KCON last weekend, the group was ready to address those questions in their performance. The most remarkable part of this new ZEROBASEONE is that they look stronger as a group of five. Each member gets ample opportunity to shine, and at KCON, TAE-RAE and JIWOONG each had solo stages. This felt like a nice nod to the creative freedom the members have been given in this new era, and to the kind of artists they want to be on their own.

This version of ZEROBASEONE, I would argue, is noticeably leaning into its sexuality. They are bolstered, for sure, by their latest single “TOP 5”, a sexy and mature song that lets the members rap and drip with swag. The song and its video felt like a star-making moment for HANBIN, but really, each member is on one when they perform it.

I also loved “Exotic”, a b-side from Ascend-, which features provocative choreography with JIWOONG at the center in a mid-drift-bearing top.

*HANBIN served as KCON’s ambassador. CJ ENM*

In May, just a week after their re-debut as five, ZB1 performed a pointed cover of SHINee’s “Sherlock” at KCON Japan. The performance stands as one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever seen the group do: It’s a fun, genuinely unexpected turn for the members that lets them showcase their vocals and also wink at their new lineup of five (SHINee, too, is originally a five-member group). At KCON LA, the group again subverted my expectations when HANBIN, MATTHEW and GUNWOOK performed an inspired cover of Justin Timberlake’s racy “Sexyback”.

Perhaps there’s a reason ZB1 is so damn good at covers. They are, after all, a group that was formed on a show where they covered trending songs in K-pop. You had to imagine them as idols through the lens of previous generations. But I don’t think that explains what made their performance of “Sexyback”, hands down, my favorite moment of the entire weekend.

*GUNWOOK, MATTHEW SEOK and HANBIN bringing sexyback. CJ ENM*

It was audacious, shocking, even hearing HANBIN sing a line like, “I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave”. For so long, HANBIN has been portrayed as a perfect idol: someone who rarely lets us see beneath a well-manicured appearance and pleasing personality. But during the “TOP 5” era, I felt like he was finally allowed to lock in his background doing ballroom vogueing, an art form where shock value and, yes, sexuality can coexist. You can see that background perfectly here. It was also a genius melding to see HANBIN and MATTHEW, beloved for their intense friendship on the show, circle each other like vultures in a call and response of “Get your sexy on”/ “Go ‘head be gone with it”.

Watching this new version of ZEROBASEONE absolutely devour a song like “Sexyback”, I actually got a little teary-eyed. K-pop, at its best, is supposed to dazzle you, sometimes even startle you, into seeing that these are performers who have been trained to burn the stage. I noticed a ferocity in the members’ eyes as they went for broke. They were ready to make up for lost time.

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