ZEROBASEONE (제로베이스원)

Zerobaseone launched in July 2023 with a debut mini-album, *Youth in the Shade*, that announced the group as one of the more commercially potent products of the K-pop audition format. Born out of a Mnet competition program, the nine-member act under WakeOne moved quickly from contestant status to sell-out concert tours, compressing a career arc that typically unfolds over years into roughly two and a half. Their representative track "And I" established their sound early, and the group sustained output across five further releases before a line-up contraction reshaped what Zerobaseone would become next.

Debut and formation

The group's name frames its origin story directly: starting from zero, nine members converge into one. WakeOne assembled the lineup through Mnet's audition process, and the nine who debuted on July 10, 2023 represented a multinational roster that included Korean members alongside Zhang Hao and Ricky. That international composition became part of the group's identity during its original run, even as it later complicated contract renewal negotiations.

*Youth in the Shade* served as the group's introduction, with "And I" functioning as its breakout moment — the track that most durably represents the Zerobaseone catalogue and the one the group's own promotional materials consistently foreground as their signature work.

Music and discography

Zerobaseone released at a sustained pace across their active period. *Youth in the Shade* (2023) was followed within the same year by *Melting Point*, giving the group two mini-albums before their debut year closed. 2024 brought *You Had Me at Hello* and *Cinema Paradise*, broadening a catalogue that also includes standalone works such as "In Bloom" and "Crush." *Prezent* arrived in 2025, marking their fifth release cycle.

The sixth mini-album, *Ascend-*, became the group's first project as a reorganized five-member act, released in May 2026. Its title track "TOP 5" and B-side "V for Vision" debuted on Mnet's *M Countdown*, where the group's own Park Gun-wook had by then been appointed as MC — a role he took on in April 2026 following a period in which the show operated under a special MC system after Sung Han-bin's earlier departure. *Ascend-* also includes "Customize," a track credited as Park Gun-wook's first self-composed song, which the group previewed at KCON Japan 2026 ahead of the album's release.

Live activity and reach

The scope of Zerobaseone's concert activity offers one of the clearer measures of where they stood commercially. Their world tour drew approximately 150,000 attendees in total — a figure that positions them well above the threshold most groups reach within their first two years. The tour's Seoul encore in March 2026, which served as the formal conclusion of their nine-member run, sold out entirely, including restricted-view seats. A concurrent live theater broadcast reached fans in Japan, extending the event's reach beyond the venue.

The encore concert, held across three sold-out nights, was framed publicly as a farewell to the original lineup. Members addressed the audience directly about the group's restructuring, and Sung Han-bin, who had already announced his departure, was present for the emotional closing nights.

Line-up and reorganization

Zerobaseone's nine-member configuration held from debut through early 2026. The current five-member lineup consists of Kim Jiwoong, Kim Taerae, Park Gun-wook, Seok Matthew, and Sung Han-bin. Four members — Han Yujin, Kim Gyuvin, Ricky, and Zhang Hao — did not renew their contracts with WakeOne and returned to their original agencies. Coverage from May 2026 notes that at least two of the departing members, Zhang Hao and Han Yujin, subsequently moved toward a new group project under Yuehua.

The transition was not without friction. In February 2026, WakeOne and management entity R.D.ONE issued a joint statement confirming that legal action was underway in response to what they described as the spread of false information. The five members who remained — Seok Matthew, Kim Taerae, and Park Gun-wook among them — signed renewed contracts with WakeOne ahead of the lineup change, and the trio contributed an OST to a tvN variety production in February 2026 as an early signal of continued activity.

Standing

Zerobaseone's compressed timeline — from audition-program formation to world tour to line-up restructuring, all within roughly three years — reflects both the speed at which the current K-pop industry can build a group's commercial profile and the structural pressures that multi-agency idol projects often face at contract renewal. The five-member group that emerged from that process in 2026 represents a continuation rather than a clean break, with *Ascend-* positioned as its opening statement. Whether that configuration sustains the scale of activity the nine-member group achieved remains to be seen, but the departure of four members to a competing project and the simultaneous relaunch of the remaining five gives the group's next phase a competitive dimension that is already visible in the market.