ZEROBASEONE's Sung Han-bin Becomes the Group's First Soloist, Three Years In

ZEROBASEONE leader Sung Han-bin stepped out as the group's first soloist on the 12th, presenting his debut mini album DEAD:ALIVE at a showcase at Layers Studio 11 in Mapo District, Seoul. It arrives about three years after the group's debut, and the concept is a hard turn: dark and decadent, a long way from the youthful, fresh image he carried with the group.

"I wanted to show the side of me that I do best," he said. "I didn't want to take the easy road, and I prepared hard with the aim of growing through this." He added that after a team cycle had wrapped, he felt he needed a change, and that he plans to run solo and group activities in parallel from here.

A concept built around fear

The album's keyword is "beautiful destruction," and it follows someone who keeps moving through fear, pain and hardship to break past personal limits. Sung said he is more timid than he looks, a different person from the bold contestant who went through the audition process, and that self-transcendence was his way of breaking that habit. He also worked his own identity into the package: the sun, moon and star tattoos appear in the music video and logo.

The title track UNDEAD is built on a heavy guitar riff, a grand choir and a showy drum line, and its mood is one of accepting any pain for someone else's sake. The point move has him drawing a thumb across his throat, which he described as a vow to keep going even in the face of death. At the showcase he performed it for roughly three minutes without a break, and the sharp, finger-tip choreography showed off his background as a trained dancer.

The recording was no easy ride. He re-recorded the title track four or five times, and said he wanted to run out of the booth at one point because his soft, slightly husky voice had to handle a lot of high notes. He now feels he can do things he once thought out of reach.

What he chose to leave out

Tutting is among his best-known strengths, and he considered working it in. He cut it instead, partly to show something new and partly because his own experience alone gave him no clear route to this kind of intense performance. He studied stage footage from Taemin of SHINee and Kai of EXO, both established soloists.

His role model is Jaehyun of NCT, chosen without hesitation. "I want the kind of aura that still shines when he stands alone," Sung said.

Eight tracks, one fan song

The EP has eight songs: UNDEAD, Killin' Me, Insidious, 3AM, Bloody Gravity, Other Side, Flash (the Korean title is Seopgwang) and Steal the Thunder. His favorite is Other Side, which marks the pivot point: the earlier tracks sit in a near-death darkness, and the mood brightens from there, with a sense of courage and release.

Flash started as a song he made for his university graduation, and it doubles as a fan song. He co-wrote the lyrics, and first played it for fans at his birthday party this year.

The other members were supportive. He played them the demo right away, and the eldest, Zhang Hao's group-mate Ji-woong, sent a coffee truck to the music video set. Sung hopes the members see his stage and feel pushed to work harder too. Looking ahead, he said he is preparing a range of additional content.

The ceiling here is worth watching: a first solo from a group leader, with the performance edge already proven, usually tells you how far the member can carry a project alone. Expect his first-week album sales to be read as the early indicator for what a second ZEROBASEONE solo looks like.