Song Review: ZEROBASEONE – Iconik

With the end of ZEROBASEONE’s contract looming in the (very near) distance, fans are concerned this might be their last comeback — at least in their current iteration. It’s impossible to know for sure what the future holds, but the guys are no doubt throwing everything they have into their first full album and the promotions of title track Iconik.

ZEROBASEONE’s title tracks have ranged in sound, but the last few have taken a bright, anthemic pop approach with effusive choruses. Iconik‘s funk-infused sound feels closer to their excellent 2025 b-side Devil Game. I’ve always thought Devil Game would have made a killer title track and I definitely prefer it over this. Early reports around Iconik teased it as a mixture of Michael Jackson and EXO’s Love Me Right, which is practically a fever dream for me. I hear those influences here and there throughout the song, but the final product is much more reserved than I had hoped.

This echoes a general complaint I have about K-pop at the moment. Nobody goes for it anymore. If you’re doing an MJ-inspired funk track, you better find the biggest, stickiest beat you can and go for broke with a sense of scale, passion and flair. Iconik swerves and coasts, but it rarely hits or punches. The opening verse is too languid for its own good and the chorus feels far less impactful than it should. The post-chorus chant comes closest to bringing the force I’m looking for, but I wish we could hear this energy withing a melodic structure rather than a chant. My fondness for ZEROBASEONE and this genre will be enough to make Iconik a very minor standout on my playlist, but it’s hard not to be a bit disappointed when they’ve already released a stronger version of this earlier in the year.

Grade: B