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ENHYPEN finishes off the week with their latest single Sweet Venom, and their fifth mini-album, ORANGE BLOOD. This is serves as the group’s first comeback since their DARK BLOOD mini-album, which was led by the single BITE ME. Sweet Venom also follows their second world tour and Japanese debut.

ENHYPEN taps very deeply into the retro genre with a sleek and groovy number. Sweet Venom is definitely likeable, with its catchy hooks and charismatic vocals from the members of ENHYPEN on top of the retro influences. The falesttos are definitely a nice touch and gives some variety (something the song was missing to a large degree – more on that in a second). The bass also makes the beats feel hefty, which naturally gives Sweet Venom some much needed oomph. And nothing screams retro as much as cowbells, which we definitely got in the bridge of the song. But while all of that was greatly appreciated, my initial impression of Sweet Venom was that it was a bit too consistent, and unfortunately never went anywhere. And it does bring me pain to say that, especially since the energy of Sweet Venom is just so strong and enjoyable. The song just never deviated in anyway, and so it sounded the same all throughout. I just wished there was more to Sweet Venom to offset that and give the song some more variety.

I find the music video for Sweet Venom to be quite an interesting concept. The song itself describes the desire to stop living in order to be with their lover, by relating their love to ‘sweet venom’. In the music video, we see the world stop around ENHYPEN. At first, it is whilst the group is just hanging around with the people in the background, so we don’t think much about it. But the later choreography shots show time stopped as lightning is about to strike. The video goes to the idea that time stops just as someone is about to die, as it is supposedly the final moment they could ever remember if they were about to die. In this case, ENHYPEN is about to die from the lightning strikes (as they mention in the song) and the time stoppage around them is what they would remember as their final moment. The choreography shots bring a bit of irony into play, which I like. In addition to the interesting concept, I really like the MJ homage the outfits have, which works well with the retro side of the song.

Choreography-wise, I am also quite impressed. They definitely went down the retro route with their performance, as well, which just encapsulates everything the song stands for. I really like their synchronisation and the smoothness of the choreography at certain parts. The side to side movement of their heads, in tandem with the catchy parts of Sweet Venom, will probably go down as the defining move of the routine.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.7/10