Here they are! Zico hit songs you must listen to!
Zico is a rapper, record producer, singer-songwriter, and leader of Block B. Zico has the original name Woo Ji-ho, and was born in Seoul, South Korea on September 14th, 1992. In middle school, he was cast in SM Entertainment, and he was not good at watching auditions and lived as a trainee for a while.
in Japanese magazine ‘Pia’ interview in 2011, Zico explained that Originally, his dream was to become an underground rapper, but debuted as an idol with a recommendation that people around him, “We are idols. Originally, I wanted to act as a producer and rapper. It was an idol when I thought about what I could do only at my age. (In other words, I’m not going to be an idol when I get older, so I’m going to do it now.) I think that experiencing an idol will definitely help me later as a producer. The goal is to become like Seo Taiji and G-Dragon. ” and now he proves it, Zico now is known as one of the most famous rappers and producers in South Korea, maintaining an underground reputation along with mainstream appeal as a Korean idol. being a reliable producer and rapper, Zico has created lots of songs that have become hits. Here are some of the songs of Zico you have to listen to!
Tough Cookie
After much anticipation, Zico released his official solo debut single titled “Tough Cookie” featuring rapper Don Mills, on November 7th, 2014. on October 30th, 2014, Zico first announced his plan to be returning to the music scene with an image teaser and then continued with released a video teaser. this song was produced by many famous hip-hop producers such as Don Mills, Jay Park, and Loco. that’s why this song is catchy, and one of hip-hop track showcases a powerful collaboration between the artists.
just like the title, “Tough Cookie”, in the music video, Zico takes on a tough look styling his hair in cornrows and wearing a bandana as well as slicking it back, he even wearing fake grills on his teeth, and return to his original hip hop style. after his debut track was released, “Tough Cookie” quickly climbed to the top of the charts of digital music sites such as Genie, Olleh Music, Soribada, Bugs Music, and Naver Music. Zico proved his popularity with able to ranked second on the music sites MelOn, Mnet, and Cyworld Music.
Despite the success of this song that dominated various charts, Zico was criticized for a homophobic slur in the song’s lyrics and also wearing a jacket emblazoned with an American Confederate flag.
In this regard, Zico said in a news article on November 11, 2014, “The word ‘Fagot’ is not used to deny homosexuality. These lyrics are only loan music and are used as musical speeches.” Zico’s agency said, “Zico said that he did not have a prejudice or negative intentions regarding homosexuality and respect for sexual minorities, just as if he were free to play music. Zico explained that there was no such intention, and he wanted to convey a deep apology to all those who felt uncomfortable.
Say Yes or No?
many fans and netizens have been waiting for the full studio version of “Say Yes or No”, this song was first played when Zico performed the song live with his teammate Paloalto during the first season of Unpretty Rapstar and Show Me the Money 4. on October 18, 2015, Zico held a live streaming event through the V Naver app with his fans, at the live Zico promised to show how he produced the song “Say Yes Or No”, and also toured around his studio.
Zico released his own version of “Up All Night” titled “Say Yes or No,” featuring rapper Penomeco and The Quiett, in October 2015.
based on a review posted on allkpop, the song “Say Yes or No” has a strong beat, and as usual, Zico and The Quiett, managed to kill him. The lyrics are quite pleasant, and nothing serious:
Tell me yes or no, yes or no.
Quick yes or no! Do you love it? Thanks a lot
Tell me yes or no, yes or no.
Quick yes or no! That’s funny! What the heck am I doing?
many people thinks that the song is quick, clever, and pretty humorous.
Boys and Girls (feat. Babylon)
Zico released “Boys and Girls” on November 3rd, 2015, at midnight KST, along with the music video for the title track “Boys and Girls.” with a background on Jeju Island, the video shows Zico together with Babylon enjoying paradise in a semi-tropical feel. They tried everything from golf courses to pool parties, and all of this while hanging out with beautiful ladies.
The song itself is much brighter than Zico’s other productions such as “Turtle Ship” or “Yes or No.” The MV is bubbly and full of bright colors, much like the song which is also a great mood-lifter, a truly perfect blend of music between Zico and Babylon.
some netizens’ comments on the Pann site against a post that states that no boy group can beat Zico, many of them acknowledge Zico’s ability to compose songs, and are confused as to why many are looking down on Zico, because the popularity of his song is no joke.
Eureka (feat. Zion.T)
Shortly after releasing “Boys and Girls,” in November 2015, Zico released his first solo EP, Gallery. The mini-album contains a total of six tracks, three of which have already been released as singles. The three new songs are “Veni Vidi Vici feat. DJ Vegun,” “Eureka feat. Zion T,” and “Pride and Prejudice feat. Suran”. During the broadcasting, Zico said: “It’s extremely sexy. The lyrics are sexy. It’s a very sexy song so please show support.”
In the song recorded <Eureka>, even the term art “ultra-realism” appears. Music videos also reveal that women are compared to art by placing art everywhere. The following is a mini fragment of the lyrics:
Awesome perfect ratio, The charm is overflowing
I finally realized, You are so beautiful
And I said Eureka
I can’t cover you with a 19 gold ticket
I lived like a gentleman today
I want to bungee on your fluffy cushion
The face is wide open without a sip of alcohol
This is extreme realism
Don’t exaggerate
I Am You, You Are Me
Zico released two different music videos for his songs “I Am You, You Are Me” and “It Was Love” on January 25, 2016, from the release of his special album, Break Up 2 Make Up. Zico has proven himself to be a trendy rapper and hip-hop artist, and songs have always been the subject of conversation and trends so far. However, on the single album Break Up 2 Make Up, differing 180 degrees from Zico’s usual songs, this album contained ballad songs and even on the song, Zico contributed as a vocalist rather than a rapper proving he was indeed multi-talent. it is known that the song “I Am You, You Are Me” is a song created in collaboration with producer PEEJAY.
“I Am You, You Are Me” is a romantic R&B song about a relationship, where you feel as if they are a part of you and you are a part of them. Through this song, Zico not only gained recognition in Korea – he also attracted international attention. on the UK ‘Dazed’ watch this month, the MV for “I Am You, You Are Me” was listed on it.
Bermuda Triangle (feat. Dean, Crush)
On November 28, 2016, Zico dropped an epic new track, featuring Crush and Dean, entitled “Bermuda Triangle.” At exactly 00:00 KST, the MV entitled “Bermuda Triangle” was released through the YouTube channel and in this music video, the three singers look strong, masculine and charismatic. l This collaboration song highlights Zico’s sharp beats and Crush and Dean’s smooth vocals and has a hip-hop genre and is eagerly awaited by fans.
Each of them is able to convey verses in a style that suits their individual musicality, lyrics like “In a few years, we naturally took over the media” referring to their music careers in 2015 and 2016 where all three gained tremendous popularity in Korea and internationally. in this song, Zico, Dean and also Crush showed the confidence of their music.
“Bermuda Triangle” successfully swept South Korea’s real-time music charts in less than 12 hours of its release. The song received a lot of attention from its production stage because of its featuring artists such as R&B singers Crush and DEAN. Until now, Zico’s music video for “Bermuda Triangle” has reached over 44,301,646 views and over 637,254 likes.
Artist
On July 12th, 2017, Zico made his comeback with a new mini-album Televisions and MVs for his double title tracks, namely “ANTI” and “Artist.” This song carries the theme of the concept of anti-fan versus artist, but it does it in a way that is completely different from most other Zico styles, beginning with a retro-style TV giving an anti-fan image from before. video, but Zico turns off the TV before talking about being lonely and bored. He then talked about wanting to return as a blank canvas and basically symbolized many people wrong by painting himself brightly and boldly and wanted to make everyone see him as an artist.
The music for this song features various types of other artists as well with different talents and the way he expresses himself as an artist, like a group of young school girls who show off their impressive dance moves in what seems to be a nod for all children who dream of becoming idols and musicians too. Zico casually brushed aside the haters and began to focus on making art for himself, thus ending things by making it a strong and positive statement that he would continue to do music and enjoy every minute of it.
In the press conference held for his mini-album Television, Zico explained his intentions behind writing “Artist.” He said that Recently, it seems we are very exhausted. The people around him complain a lot. he put in his heart to not hesitate, take control and enjoy life. He also said that he wanted to write ‘Artist’ from a good mood. Thus it took a long time. It’s going to be released on the music portal sites soon so he hopes that people will be in a good mood from listening to it.
“Artist” topped several of the real-time charts on its release, and “Anti” charted well too.
Daredevil (feat. Jvcki Wai, Yumdda)
On September 30th, 2019, Zico released the first half of the two-part studio album, titled Thinking, “Thinking Part.1”. This was the first solo album released by Zico since he founded the KOZ Entertainment agency.
in accordance with Zico’s style which is usually on most tracks of the title, “Daredevil” has a light and breezy hip-hop sound, proven in songs along with people like “Artist” or “Male and Female.”
“Daredevil” is about Zico’s establishment of his own agency. In the “Daredevil” music videos, there are feature of animal creatures with extremely large heads, posing as his employees at a company. In a radio broadcast, Zico said it is about someone who rages without fear. “I think the word “Daredevil” fits my image. YUMDDA and Jvcki Wai helped me (in this song),” he explained.
Zico also talked about the tension, both mentally and physically, experienced as an artist. Zico claimed he had experienced hair loss due to pressure. Zico said that during the process (making an album), he was stressed while thinking about making a new song, and all of the process such as taking a photo and many more. he also revealed that his hair fell partially that makes him need to be underwent injection and treatment.
Any Song
The day before the song was released, on January 12th, Zico uploads a fun video with Mamamoo’s Hwasa dancing on his unreleased digital single “Any Song.” He also added the hashtag #AnysongChallenge invites the fans to also follow the challenge.
With this single, he managed to score an All-Kill upon its release and won his first music show award for the song on January 28th. Not only with MAMAMOO’s Hwasa, on January 17th, 2020, but Zico also returned to upload his video to dance with Chung-ha to play Zico’s “Any Song Challange.”
“Any Song” is an easy song where Zico shows him as a multi-talented rapper and vocalist, as well as producer. The song has soared to the top of the charts, became the first song of 2020 to score a perfect all-kill. Not only this, but the “Any Song” challenge has taken social media and instantly became hit. #anysongchallenge was quickly caught on not only by fans but many celebrities also enliven it such as WINNER’s Mino, Park Shin-hye, Lee Hyori, Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany, Sandara Park, and many more. Additionally, on January 28th, 2020, Zico broke the record beating out the previous holders, iKON, with their 2015 track “Love Scenario” (204 PAK), and Zico broke their record as the longest Perfect All-Kill (PAK) with 205 PAK.
On the January 14th, 2020, broadcast of MBC FM4U’s Good Morning FM With Jang Sung-kyu, Zico talked about the process of creating, “Any Song.” Zico explained that he wants to make a song that people can listen to when they’re not thinking about anything. on his previous album, Thinking is made up of songs that he created when he was overflowing with thoughts, so there are a lot of messages and a lot of information. On the January 14th, 2020, broadcast of MBC FM4U’s Good Morning FM With Jang Sung-kyu, Zico talked about the process of creating, “Any Song.” Zico explained that he wants to make a song that people can listen to when they’re not thinking about anything. on his previous album, Thinking is made up of songs that he created when he was overflowing with thoughts, so there are a lot of messages and a lot of information. it makes the songs are difficult to summarize, and it would be tiring to listen to from beginning to end. Because of that reason, he wanted to make something without thinking, and that was where the concept of ‘Any Song’ came about. He also tells when he found myself thinking or deliberating on something, he stopped and relied on instinct for this song. People are always thinking about so many different things, that’s why he thought, at least since it’s the beginning of the year, we could just enjoy this song without thinking about much. This song’s message is that it has no message.
When He asked about his hopes if the song remained on the charts, Zico answered that the best way to see if your song is loved is through the charts. If it goes down, he can’t do anything about it, but I’ll be thankful if it stayed on the charts for a long time. If it stays for even one week, it’d be amazing.
On SBS ‘Night of Real Entertainment that aired on January 22nd, 2020, Zico responded to the popularity of #anysongchallenge that became a trend in South Korea and explained that he thought it would be fun to create a challenge with movements that matched the melody and lyrics, and he was surprised by how much the challenge has been caught on. When asked which celebrity was the most memorable for him, Zico picked Lee Hyori and He then explained that at first, He didn’t believe it. Once He realized that it really was Lee Hyori, he was happy but still had difficulty believing that he really did it.
Successful as a solo artist, producer, and also the CEO of his own agency namely KOZ Entertainment, the road which Zico is walking is certainly not easy. Having made a variety of hits, Zico is still not spared the criticism of his music and also high expectations of his work. But Zico once again proved himself as a musician and created an extraordinary piece of work.
Zico was reportedly the last to participate in the 2020 Pepsi X Starship together with Kang Daniel. On March 15th, 2020, Starship Entertainment announced the return of ‘Global K-Pop Project’ series in collaboration with ‘Pepsi’ and released a teaser video featuring Zico. after that, Kang Daniel was revealed will also be participating in the upcoming first ‘2020 Pepsi x Starship’ project single, and hinting at a monumental collaboration. for your information, previously Zico has known has worked on composing and producing Wanna One’s “Kangaroo”, that released in 2018. Let’s all look forward to their collaboration and Zico’s works in the future. Don’t forget to continue to support and also love Zico in the future!
