Having won one of the biggest audition programs in Korea, debuting and selling 2 million copies of their first album, the year 2023 was prosperous indeed for members of boy band ZeroBaseOne. But more than that, it was a year that gave them a new family, members told reporters on Monday.

“We really can’t believe that it’s been 200 days since we came together already,” Park Gun-wook said in a showcase Monday at the Yes24 Live Hall music venue in eastern Seoul, held ahead of the release of the band’s second EP “Melting Point” at 6 p.m.


“I think we filled every single moment with Ze_Rose,” he continued. Ze_Rose is the name of the boy band’s fan club.

“We really didn’t waste a single minute of our time, and I think that made time fly by even faster. I think this year was a year where we met a new family — eight new family members that I could never forget. I want to spend every single moment to the fullest with these members, and I hope that Ze_Rose is there with us every step of the way.”

ZeroBaseOne — also known as ZB1 — is a project group formed via cable network Mnet's audition program, "Boys Planet." The group's nine members are Zhang Hao, Sung Han-bin, Seok Matthew, Ricky, Park Gun-wook, Kim Tae-rae, Kim Gyu-vin, Kim Ji-woong and Han Yu-jin.

The band is considered to have inherited Mnet’s pedigree of successful K-pop groups formed through the cable channel’s hit audition shows, such as the two seasons of “Produce 101” (2016-17), “Produce 48” (2018), “Produce X 101” (2019) and “Girls Planet 999” (2021).

“Melting Point” comes as ZeroBaseOne’s first new album in four months since the band’s debut last July with “Youth in the Shade.” The debut album sold over 1.82 million copies within the first week of release, the highest ever for a debut album by any K-pop act, and sold over 2 million copies by the end of September.

Hopes are high for another record-breaker with “Melting Point” as the album surpassed 1.7 million copies in preorders as of Oct. 26.

As opposed to “Youth in the Shade,” which was all about the idea of youth and the roller-coaster ride of emotions that comes with being young, “Melting Point” and its lead track “Crush” sing of ZeroBaseOne’s urge to step up for their fans, who did the same for them.

“It's all because of Ze_Rose that we could be here today,” Sung, the leader, said. “There’s a part within ‘Crush’ that goes, ‘You saved me.’ True to those words, this song is about our will to become stronger so as to protect Ze_Rose like they have protected us. We'll protect you even if we're crushed and broken.”

“The album is about our passion to change the world, with purity that's symbolized by how ice melts at exactly 0 degrees Celsius,” Zhang added.

The four other tracks on the album are title track “Melting Point,” “Take My Hand,” “Kidz Zone” and “Good Night,” which members described as having diverse genres that show the versatility of ZeroBaseOne.

“We have to limit ourselves,” Kim Tae-rae said. “In fact, we think that Ze_Rose will like this album more, because it’s so different from our debut album. We’ll keep on trying to show people new sides of ourselves instead of being defined by one specific genre.”

Having competed but also collaborated with each other during the Mnet show, members of ZeroBaseOne feel their teamwork grows with each new project and performance.

“I can really feel our teamwork getting better,” Zhang said. “We’re also getting to pull off diverse concepts. I feel confident that we will be able to show a new charm of ZeroBaseOne with this new album.”

ZeroBaseOne held its first-ever fan concert on Aug. 15 at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro District, western Seoul — a venue typically considered too large for a newly-debuting band to fill. But that was no problem for the “global mega rookie,” which managed to fill the venue with 18,000 passionate fans.

It has received two Rookie of the Year awards already, from the 2023 K Global Heart Dream Awards in August and The Fact Music Awards last month.

“We were so grateful for how everyone called us the ‘global mega rookie’ following our debut,” Zhang said. “We've been trying to live up to that name with a sense of responsibility. Our goal now is to get a mega hit song. We also hope to become the icon of fifth-generation K-pop.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]