[Review] GOOD SO BAD – ZEROBASEONE

ZEROBASEONE is back, returning on Monday with their 4th mini-album, CINEMA PARADISE. The lead single for this comeback is GOOD SO BAD. It follows ZEROBASEONE’s earlier 2024 comeback with You Had Me At Hello, led by the singles SWEAT and Feel The POP.

GOOD SO BAD kicks off the week strongly, in my point of view. I was drawn to the song within the first couple of seconds with the electronic muffling of the chorus. This sets up the song exceptionally well. From there, GOOD SO BAD follows through, eventuating it into a great song. This is as good as a first impression gets! I really enjoyed GOOD SO BAD’s electronic synth-pop instrumentation. It is so good that I wouldn’t mind listening to the instrumental version of GOOD SO BAD on loop. There were a few things within it that stood out to me. The first is the retro touches the instrumental had channeling through itself. The second is the forward trajectory of the instrumentation. Both of these, along with some excellent bass, really made the choruses pop out. Smooth melodies also help make GOOD SO BAD feel so satisfying. Put it all together, you get GOOD SO BAD flowing like butter, giving the new song its major selling point. The vocalists brought those smooth melodies to the table, sounding vibrant throughout the rest of the song. The lightness of their vocals made GOOD SO BAD approachable. As for the rapping, I enjoyed the pace of the rapping. The delivery still had a bit of a punch at times, but all fitted in nicely with the song’s tempo. The only lacking part of GOOD SO BAD was the ending, which felt like it was missing elements to draw it to a close. A cliché high note or ad-libs would have been an easy way to signal the end is coming. We got some in the bridge, but it felt too early. If done right, it would have closed out the song in a clean, simple, and satisfying manner and earned the perfect rating from me.

I was surprised to see Yoo Ji Tae feature as a novelist or writer in the music video. He begins the video by writing a line that says to let go of the special someone due to the pain they bring. But the video flips the script, with ZEROBASEONE falling in love with that special someone in a movie or show. In the lyrics, the song tells us to hold onto that special someone (unlike what was written by Yoo Ji Tae’s character in the initial seconds of the video). A singular line in the song’s chorus says it all – “The whole universe is saying ‘Don’t let her go’“. As the movie or show develops, something causes Yoo Ji Tae’s character to rewrite the script to change from ‘letting go’ to ‘Don’t let her go’. In the end, it is revealed that he is the writer of the movie or TV show that ZEROBASEONE acted in throughout the video. I thought it was a fun video with a unique but clever storyline. I also really enjoyed the vibrancy and youthfulness the members brought to the video, which made everything else feel bright and full of life throughout the video.

Like the song and video, I liked the vibrancy and energy the members brought to this performance. The routine also had a fun and light-hearted element, making it feel approachable. This made the whole routine worthwhile to watch. Their synchronisation and how easily they made the choreography flow were probably my highlights.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9/10

I am unsure if this is the right word to describe the overall song, but what comes to my mind is the word ‘sonic’. But yeah, GOOD SO BAD feels sonic and I like it.