ENHYPEN – Page 3 – KPOPREVIEWED

I know I promised the restart of reviews yesterday, but I decided to delay that to focus on some other stuff for the blog. I will restart the reviews tomorrow when the first 2021 release officially drops and I will then return to writing some other 2020 reviews. In the meantime, I hope the next album review suffice. The artist at the focus of the album review is ENHYPEN, who made their debut at the very end of November with Given-Taken. The song was featured on the group’s first mini-album, Border: Day One, which has sold over 300,000 copies since its release. Given-Taken faired pretty well, so let’s see what I thought about the rest of the mini-album.

1. Intro: Walk The Line – There are some vocals in the Intro track, which lands itself on the reviewing block. Honestly, I don’t have much else to say aside from that Walk The Line sets the tone for this mini-album. The music itself is quite atmospheric. It, as a whole piece, pretty much felt like a marching band was following them as they embark on their journey as artists. The members also sing ‘Walk The Line’ in Italian, which isn’t a language we see at all in KPOP. Definitely a good start to the mini-album. (9/10)

2. Given-Taken (Title Track) – Click here to read the full review for Given-Taken. (8.5/10)

3. Let Me In (20 Cube) – Let Me In a lot less serious compared the title track. It actually taps into a more vibrant sound, which I find appropriate for the youthfulness the group brings to the industry. To me, the song is a solid dance track that features a hint of a reggae beat. The vocals are nice, though I felt that they could have reduced the autotune that filtered their vocals. Just a personal preference of mine. I also did think the song needed a more substantial rap sequence. Ni-Ki teased us with his really deep voice, but I wanted more of that in the song. (8/10)

4. 10 Months – 10 Months continues the upbeat and vibrancy from the previous track. It is a fun number with a bouncy instrumentation. To me, it wasn’t a really interesting track. It was a nice listen and I did enjoy the energy that came from it. But I wanted more from the group in this song in terms of vocals and rapping. I also wanted more robustness and dynamism from the producers. The only interesting moment(s) worth mentioning was the unique (and possibly fancy) way the members sang ‘Love’, which sounded like ‘La-Uve’ (6.5/10)

5. Flicker – Flicker was a song previously performed on the I-LAND. Though this version is at a higher pitch and felt a bit faster than what was performed on the show. The instrumental was definitely texturally interesting, with its use of guitars and other synths. The members also sound more promising in Flicker than the other side track, though the excessive autotune could have been reduced. Listening to this song (and taking in account my thoughts from the songs above), the group aligns better with a mature and serious tone. It just seems to click better and felt more nature for me. (8/10)

6. Outro: Cross the Line – The outro track doesn’t feature any vocals per say, so I won’t include it in final album rating score I usually give. But I have to make a few comments about it. It is so creepy. The voices of the kids in the background were chilling. The European (possibly French? roots) instrumental influences were very haunting. And this was all followed by rock version of the Phantom of the Opera’s most iconic tune. Hopefully, this outro is teasing us with what is to come. I would totally be game for this.

Overall Album Rating – 8/10

Despite already having BTS and TXT under already under their company name, it seems like Big Hit Entertainment is still hungry for another male group (Don’t worry to all you female group stans, Big Hit has confirmed a female group is coming our way in 2021). This new male group is called ENHYPEN and they were formed through the survival show I-LAND, which aired earlier this year. Seven members were chosen to be part of ENHYPEN’s lineup, including Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki. Their debut single is titled Given-Taken and was dropped earlier today.

Given the current status of Big Hit Entertainment, I feel that any act who debuts under the Big Hit name is guaranteed success. But honestly, I don’t think ENHYPEN needs this guarantee given the calibre of Given-Taken itself. It is on a whole new level. Given-Taken starts off with this really beautiful harp that already screams out uniqueness. This start already feels quite tense, which is always a positive thing. The harps continue throughout the first verse as we get a slow and moody beat to accompany it and vocals. There is also some rapping. It was pretty much masked to be like the vocals and I wished they didn’t do that. Throughout the song I was yearning for something edgy and dynamic, which the raps would have served extremely well as a carrier for these two characteristics. Given-Taken then changes up the song by going into a pop-centric chorus. It reminds me of TXT’s Crown, just without the colour. If you couldn’t tell by now, but Given-Taken throws dark vibes right at you from the first second. I like the ‘To You… To… Me‘ part of the chorus. The second chorus was more so the same as the first verse. I wished they did something more with it. Likewise with the bridge. But it doesn’t mean I find the song terrible. I am totally digging this release. and will enjoy it no matter what I say about it. And it isn’t all ‘I want more’ with these parts. These sections do show and confirm with me is that ENPYPEN’s vocals are solid. I did not detect a weak spot throughout the song or any flaws in this department. Honestly, a really good job by this new group.

The lyrics of Given-Taken hints towards a dark concept. With lines such as ‘Red blood on that crown, That blood dripping down, Red Blood‘, I don’t think sunshines and flowers is going to cut it. To match with the dark vibes of the song, the music video opts for a horror theme. Oh, how I wished this debut was timed to coincide with Halloween. That would have been iconic. There isn’t anything scarier in this world, until you introduce little children to the story. And I feel that is the premise of the music video. The boys look innocent, but they (or at least one of them) has something to hide (i.e. he is an vampire). That scene at the end was expected once it started playing. But that particular member’s smile (sorry, I don’t know any of their names yet) to show off his fang was really haunting. Likewise, the really captivating yet probably trigger-warning worthy nose bleed start was definitely something I am sure people will be chatting about. I could literally sit here and list all the scenes that impressed me (hint: I was impressed by all). And all the member showcased perfect acting skills throughout the video.

The snippets of the choreography that I saw in the music video told me one thing. Never to underestimate ENHYPEN when it comes to their dance skills. This is only their debut song, yet their performance skills look like they have been around for many years. They looked super mature, despite their young age. Aside from that, I didn’t see any mind blowing or impressive moves that would have made me more eager to watch more of their stuff. I definitely will, though. I just wanted to explain why I am not giving them a 10/10 this time around (based on what I saw in the music video).

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9.1/10