Here are my credentials: I don’t know much about ENHYPEN, but unlike what’s usually true, I actually know more about them as people than their music. I’ve seen an interview of a few of them (Jay and Jake, I think) with Eric Nam and couple learn-about-the-members videos that came up on my recommendeds. I know a couple titles from them, but I’m excited to learn more. Let’s get into it!

(Part One)

EP #4: Dark Blood

Bite Me is a track that I knew of in passing before I heard it, because of the news of its choreography getting changed due to “fan outcry” (according to the Korea JoongAng Daily), so I was intrigued. It has some great atmosphere, I will say, with a very minimalistic beat that somehow still succeeds at building tension. Unfortunately, it then goes for an anti-drop that ruins that build-up, and I have no idea why. There’s a second, more melodic hook that works much better and the song would be so much stronger if that was the chorus. Also, I did really like the choreography which was another partnered dance, this time with female backup dancers, and I’m sad that it got changed because it added to the mood they created.

Sacrifice is the other title from this release, and though it appears lighter at first, it’s just as disconcerting as Bite Me or Drunk-Dazed…or really, all of their tracks. I’m torn, because I think that it’s a stronger song on the whole than Bite Me, mostly because its chorus is a much better fit with the more restrained energy of the track, but I think that the rest of it is less interesting than Bite Me, which is very good except for its chorus. If only I could do a transplant.

From the EP, Dark Blood, I enjoyed the vocalizing in the intro Fate, the downtempo catchiness of Bills, and the crooning stadium rock of Karma (my hidden gem!), which got me head-banging.

EP #5: Orange Blood

I was excited to see that Sweet Venom, like Blessed-Cursed, has a rockier through-line than is usual for Enhypen. It has less of a buildup than my favorite tracks of theirs, and is shorter on the whole, but I’m alright with that when the buildup that it does have has an apt payoff. As befits a song called Sweet Venom, it’s very swingy and smooth, and the “swee…ee..eet” hook is now stuck in my head. Which is, I suppose, my own fault.

From the EP, Orange Blood, I enjoyed the easy soft rock of the percussive Still A Monster (especially its outro), the slowed synths of Blind, and the uplifting beat and sweet lyrics of Orange Flower.

Album #2: Romance Untold; Daydream

XO (Only If You Say Yes) also makes use of distortion, though in a much more relaxed way than Drunk-Dazed did. It bops along with an easy, coffee-shop beat that goes in one ear and out the other. It’s definitely sweet, I’ll give it that, but it doesn’t really have a defining moment or centerpiece, so much so that I wasn’t even sure when the chorus started the first time. XO’s not a bad song by any stretch, but the best thing I can say about it is that it’s…fine.

No Doubt is a repackage single, and is honestly fairly similar to XO in a lot of ways: the heavy autotuning, the blend of synths and distortion, and the fairly one-note shift between the verse and the chorus. The biggest difference I can see is the over-the-top “sexy” visuals in the music video. (Like, who were all those bared necks dripping in sweat for? Vampires?) I use the air quotes because it doesn’t do it for me, but I’m sure there’s at least a thousand fangirls screaming over it at we speak. It’s also…fine, but Enhypen can be so much more than “fine.”

From the second full album, Romance: Untold, I enjoyed the lovely harmonizing in the smoothly magical Moonstruck, the rushing, pulsing synths of Brought The Heat Back (my hidden gem), and the guitar background in Royalty. Overall, this album was more subdued than their usual, which isn’t an issue in principle, but it’s not a style that suits Enhypen as much as other ones like rock-pop do.

EP #6: Desire; Unleash

Bad Desire definitely has a strong start, ignoring the hilariously dramatic spoken-word opener. It creeps along with this eerie yet undeniably sensual feeling, like something is about to happen and whatever it is will be catastrophic. I’m a sucker for “I’m-so-attracted-to-you-but-I-just-can’t-give-in” songs, so this was right up my alley. I don’t know if it’s just me or just a difference in autotuning, but I really appreciated their vocals here more than I have in the past. I especially enjoyed the hook, though it still feels a little incomplete, like it doesn’t reach its full potential. Shockingly, though, this is one of those few-and-far-between times where I preferred the English version to the original, and I’m not sure why that is, though I will point out that it’s very funny that they added at least four different obligatory “girllll”s when the original has none.

(Note: technically Desire; Unleash is classified as an album by iTunes because it has 8 songs but I’m calling it an EP because two of them are English versions, so there’s only 6 songs in total.)

So, from the EP, I enjoyed the falsetto-and-synths-driven Flashover, which felt like a successor to Sweet Venom, as well as the bassy, grounded Loose and the delightfully dramatic, synth-meets-EDM sound of Helium (my hidden gem). I’d say this is their most cohesive album since Manifesto: Day 1, which was previously my favorite. Unlike that one, though, I actually like the title track, so that puts it a step ahead.

Verdict: TL;DR

I’m glad I did this! As mentioned above, I was surprised a considerable amount of times, almost always positively. Though I’m not declaring myself an Engene or anything, I got to see that the broad brush I have a tendency to paint 4th gen boy groups with isn’t always accurate, and that many of them have way more depth to their music than I’ve been giving them credit for. I also got to enjoy their humor and behind the scenes content, which, I’ll admit, got a few genuine laughs out of me.

My top 5 songs are Drunk-Dazed, Attention Please, Shout Out, Helium, and Don’t Give A What, with That Feeling When as an honorable mention. Enhypen gets an 8.5 out of 10 from me, which is surprising! I can’t really say exactly what it is about their discography that I liked so much, but maybe it was how they took the good in k-pop staples and turned them into something more unique. I especially enjoyed the songs where they leaned into different forms of rock, because they made some great tracks. I’m not as much a fan of when they lean into trap-pop and forgo the more dramatic aspects of their discography, but overall

Next time, we’ll be doing Part II of the LOONA deep dive. Tschüss!