To my great continual regret, I “recapped” the entirety of this year’s Boys II Planet, though these write-ups became shorter and less enthused as the series went on. If you want to read the perspective of someone losing interest in real time, I guess I’d recommend you check them out. Otherwise, you’re probably safe to skip right to the debuting group’s pre-release Formula.
ALPHA DRIVE ONE premiered this song on last week’s MAMA Awards and I was immediately unimpressed. After many minutes of dramatic intros and set pieces, the actual music landed with a thud. Further listens have not been kind. Unfortunately, Formula succumbs to so many of modern K-pop’s worst instincts. The vast majority of the track is simply the guys talking over a beat. Its chorus is particularly empty. There’s a way to make this approach work, but the spoken-word segments must be ultra-charismatic and phrased in a way that’s as catchy as a melodic centerpiece would be. Formula‘s hooks are too monotone and forgettable to leave any mark. It’s lazy posturing, and the production isn’t strong or interesting enough to compensate.
Even Formula‘s melodic segments are designed as connective tissue rather than highlights of their own. The song is constantly moving from A to B in a corporate, soulless way that feels more like product than music. I could say the same about Boys II Planet as a whole, and hope this approach doesn’t continue into ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s debut and ensuing output. Wake One found a way to make ZEROBASEONE work wonderfully. It would be a shame if they let their heir apparent fumble the ball.
| Hooks | 5 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 5 |
| RATING | 6 |
