Restarting as a five-piece act, ZEROBASEONE aims to 'ascend' higher

Following a major reorganization into a five-piece act, K-pop group ZEROBASEONE is returning with its new album, "Ascend-," embracing sophisticated contemporary R&B and a sound it describes as "minimalist." Formed through local music cable channel Mnet's audition show "Boys Planet," ZEROBASEONE debuted in July 2023 as a project group and quickly rose to fame, scoring six consecutive million-selling albums. After the 2 1/2-year project terminated in January 2026, the five members — Sung Han-bin, Kim Ji-woong, Seok Matthew, Kim Tae-rae and Park Gun-wook — decided to continue their activities as ZEROBASEONE while four other members — Zhang Hao, Ricky, Kim Gyu-vin and Han Yu-jin — left and debuted again as a new boy group. "Since I lead performances as the frontman, I definitely noticed a huge difference after the personnel change," the group's leader Sung Han-bin said, asked about changes from the reorganization during a group media interview in Seoul on Friday. To adapt, the group thoroughly researched how to best showcase its dance lines as a five-member act. The effort paid off d