Exploring A Daydream: CLASH Meets ENHYPEN
It’s witching hour in Seoul when ENHYPEN’s JUNGWON, HEESEUNG, JAY, JAKE, SUNGHOON, SUNOO and NI-KI sit down at an intimate roundtable playback for the repackage version of their second studio album, ‘ROMANCE : UNTOLD -daydream-‘. The late night session is kind of apt when you consider ENHYPEN’s visual and lyrical vampire concept, used allegorically to represent ambition, desire, greed, and freedom, as well as the framework for a good old-fashioned love story.
Though a concept that’s waxed and waned across their discography, lately it’s been key in driving their output: last year’s EPs ‘DARK BLOOD’ and ‘ORANGE BLOOD’, this year’s flawless concept record ‘MEMORABILIA’ (partnered to DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR, their character-based vampire webtoon), and ‘ROMANCE : UNTOLD’.
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They’ve indulged in a couple of classic tropes – capes and crumbling abodes – during this time but ENHYPEN’s vampirism is a pliable, modern muse, where you’ll more likely see luxury streetwear and suits draping their shoulders as they genre-hop from airy synth-pop (‘Moonstruck’, ‘XO (Only If You Say Yes)’, ‘Sacrifice (Eat Me Up)’) to moody introspection (‘Still Monster’, ‘Hundred Broken Hearts’, ‘Fatal Trouble’, ‘Lucifer’) and chunky singalongs (‘Scream’, ‘Karma’, ‘Bite Me’).
And ENHYPEN’s appetite to experiment is voracious; take, for example, the drum & bass meets rock riff on this year’s “Paranormal” or the curveball of banjo-y drift phonk (‘Teeth’) to keep things unpredictable. Of the two new tracks on their repackage – ‘Daydream’ and ‘No Doubt’ – the former ventures even further: predominantly a whispered track, their voices rasp and push over a sullen bass beat, the fleeting chorus and ad libs giving space to their falsetto.
HEESEUNG, bundled deep into a bomber jacket and beanie, says that while the “whisper rapping” sounds new, “we hope it’ll strike you as something fun and exciting. And rather than the lyrics being straightforward, we tried to capture a unique vibe through repeated elements and a catchy hook.”
Where ‘Daydream’ presents a darker sense of desire, ‘No Doubt’ is jauntier and more vocally melodic, undercut with longing. JUNGWON, who dances in his seat as they play through the songs, calls the album a “story extension, but the emotions have become much deeper and more multifaceted. You know when you’re not with your lover you might feel insecure and anxious, so ‘No Doubt’ is a song where you realise how big your feelings are for them, moreso when you’re not actually with that person.”
The members have spent weeks giving hints about the repackage to fans – SUNOO alluding to the release date in a group livestream, JAKE boldly slipping the title of the lead single into a concert ment with HEESEUNG doubling down on it in his birthday livestream. “I can tell you that none of it is planned,” JAKE laughs. “All the members get excited as it comes closer to the comeback date and I think we just can’t help ourselves to spoil a bit here and there.”
A week before the repackage’s release, ENHYPEN dropped an official spoiler – a shortened track video for ‘Daydream‘. Similar to the teaser for ‘ROMANCE : UNTOLD’, they’re centred in a living room, this time with a gothic Jumanji-style game whose pieces are the same elements (bats, cats, coffins) as those in the video for ‘Brought The Heat Back‘, also on their last album. The use of repeated motifs isn’t just a narrative tool, it bestows familiarity that smoothes the path of their quickening evolution, one driven on this record, says JAKE, by the band themselves.
“We listened to all the options for the second track and we picked ‘Daydream’ over something else because we thought the whisper rap was so unique,” he says. “It was time for us to try something new, we believed we could do well on that song, and the mood was really what we wanted to do.”
SUNGHOON emerges from his hoodie. “I have a question,” he interjects. “Which song did you like more?” JAKE, seizing an opportunity to switch the music writer-artist dynamic, impishly eyeballs everyone on the Zoom call: “We’ll take a vote. Put your hand up if you like ‘No Doubt’ more,” he instructs, and everyone dutifully votes [fyi, the result was an even split].
For NI-KI, the band’s youngest at 18, a lover of both ASMR and hip-hop, the choice was easy. “It’s hands down ‘Daydream’. When I first heard the demo I was sure that this was going to be the lead single because it was so mind blowing, it had such an impact on me. We dropped the track video and ENGENEs [their fandom] loved it, so if the opportunity allows I’d like to show more of this song.”
NI-KI, who speaks Korean and his native Japanese, takes a moment to lean forward, cupping one side of his face as if he’s about to share a big secret: “We hope you like our new music,” he says in English. JAKE, ENHYPEN’s fluent English speaker, beams. JUNGWON, the group’s leader, grins down the camera: “Awww, cute.”
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At four years into their career, and even when presented with something unfamiliar, little remains of the unsurety in the recording studio which tends to mark newer idols. “It was my first time trying to record something like this so I walked into the booth determined that this was going to be a new challenge,” says JAY, “but, at the same time, it was also a wonderful opportunity for me to grow in a different way.”
This sensibility has not gone unnoticed by their fandom, who have taken to discussing ENHYPEN’s increasing assertiveness and influence with an understandable combination of pride and admiration. Whether it be the band’s first-time involvement in the production of their new tour, ‘WALK THE LINE’, or ‘ROMANCE : UNTOLD’ reaching #2 on Billboard 200, their stacked list of recent accomplishments were made possible, HEESEUNG believes, because of their 2023 EP, ‘DARK BLOOD’.
“I don’t know about the other members but, for me, we reached new heights in that era. When we were promoting that album, we tried to take on more new challenges and made a habit of making new attempts. And it was also then that we started to explore more soundscapes and apply that to the colour of our team and, through that experience, we could expand our horizons,” HEESEUNG explains. “Now that we’re at the release of this repackage, it really hits home how much we’ve grown, how many more genres we’ve explored, and that we’re also on the way to discover more about ourselves and who we truly are.”
That intriguing future, says SUNGHOON, is one they’re preparing for now. “We’re really willing to be engaged in the production,” he says, pointing to the inclusion of HEESEUNG’s ‘Highway 1009’ on ‘ROMANCE : UNTOLD’, for which all the members also contributed lyrics. “We’re positive that there will be more opportunities going forward and, to make that happen, we’re all trying songwriting in our own unique colours. I hope with each passing year we get to see more of ENHYPEN’s creativity.”
“We’ve achieved a lot of love and support from so many people, but we’re still very hungry for the future,” says JAKE, “and we know we have so much more potential as a group. We believe we’re not even halfway through our journey so I feel like as a group our main goal is to become more.”
Adds SUNOO with a grin: “I definitely feel the same way. I’d like to connect with a much wider audience as ENHYPEN. We should always aim higher, so we’re going to aim for the sky.”
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Words: Taylor Glasby
Photography: BELIFT LAB
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