Among the breaking sales records in Korea (their Border: Day One album was the best-selling debut of all new artists in 2020 with less than a month in sales), Japan (their Border: Hakanai topped the local Oricon Daily Charts for seven consecutive days), and climbed the Billboard charts ( Border: Carnival ) reached the top 20 on the Billboard 200), ENHYPEN’s first few months in the industry are characterized by the guys discussing their dizzying transition to fame. Songs like “Drunk-Dazed”, “Given-Taken” and “Mixed Up” have not only won international fans for the surging mixture of electro-pop and rock, but also as an honest reflection of the experience of the septet.
The group consisting of Jungwon, Jake, Sunghoon, Jay, Heeseung, Sunoo and Ni-ki says that they will commit themselves to this reliable honesty in their future and with Working hopes that they will take a deeper creative involvement. All of this enables the international group, whose members represent Korea, Australia, Japan and the US, to continue to climb the global charts with a sincerity sometimes rarely found in a group this early in their careers.
Read on to find out more from ENHYPEN reflecting on their latest accomplishments, what’s next, their real feelings about horror movies, and their hopes for their future.
Jeff Benjamin: I’m sorry, your time on SUNOO’s special day, but great to talk to! I’ve been watching you since Jeff Benjamin: Do any of you have the feeling that you have personally crossed the line from trainee to idol that you are talking about? Do you feel more comfortable? Still embarrassing moments?
JAKE: I think that since it’s only our second mini-album, we are still in our learning phase. But the more places we visit, the more strength we gain. With every single phase we go, we always improve, I think. Not only do we learn by singing, but we also learn the mindset that we need to have as artists. We are very honored that we were invited to the mid-year show for KBS Music Bank because I heard that this year only the groups got first place, so we are very much honored and also very excited [to improve and learn from there too].
HEESEUNG: Although we feel we have come a long way, we are still on Beginning and have a long way to go. So we hope you’re looking forward to what’s next.
Jeff Benjamin: You talked about working on it and wanting to do more with songwriting and productions. How does this process work?
HEESEUNG: We write lyrics and are really interested in producing music for our albums, but we really don’t know whether our songs make it onto the album. We just try.
SUNGHOON: We try to write the lyrics as well as to produce the songs.
JAKE: And while we just finished our PhDs and started writing songs and lyrics, HEESEUNG was producing music as a trainee, so I’m looking forward to it and what he can bring. Hopefully he’ll do the next big song. I’m really looking forward to it.
Jeff Benjamin: There are a lot of idols from big companies or survival shows that find pressure on their debut, but I found it refreshing when you approach it artistically . Is that honesty something you will keep going with?
SUNOO: In our debut album we express complex emotions that we are at the limit of being debut. On our second album we tried to convey the complex emotions we have while enjoying this complex new world. We want to keep creating music that everyone can identify with.
Jeff: The excitement increased again with your Japanese debut. How does everyone feel about it?
Jeff Benjamin: You’re entering the Japanese market with us new music. Do you think you will follow your seniors like BTS and Tomorrow X Together and one day possibly record original songs in English?
SUNGHOON: We don’t have any concrete plans yet, but since ENHYPEN is a group of global fans, maybe we can try it for all of our fans out there.
Jeff Benjamin: If you watch the Border series , has the last video for “Outro: The Wormhole” with the question “When we wake up at the end of this tunnel, what vision awaits you?” So what vision is expecting ENHYPEN?
SUNOO: [Laughs] I think it’s a little early to share our next story! But we will certainly hold back our emotions that we felt before and after our debut. And I think you’ll see us grow as artists pushing that line.
Jeff Benjamin: Your concept is characterized by the fact that it encompasses, and not just, these dark and horror themes With . K-Pop is very unique, but really all pop music. Can you explain a little more about your relationship on these topics?
JAY: We are grateful that so many people are interested in our concept. We have multiple stimuli and the dark concept is only one aspect of our stimuli, but we are glad that we can take it as our own.
JAKE: I want to add that I think this dark concept is the style we go through, but ENHYPEN can include all types and anything it takes to be to draw a concept.
Jeff Benjamin: Are you horror fans? Do you like the dark vampire style? Do you have any favorite horror movies or series?
JAKE: SUNOO and NI-KI, they always watch horror movies at night, but the rest of us can’t watch so we block our ears and look away. [group laughs] We always go in when the film is on, so we have to block our ears when we enter the room. I can not see it! [ laughs ]
Jeff Benjamin: I can’t do horror either, you two are crazy. ENHYPEN, I would like to thank you for your time and give you the opportunity to add something to your international fans?
NI-KI: We ‘we are currently focus on our official debut in Japan and we want to keep improving musically and continue to use our music to convey our story. Also, we will go to great lengths to communicate with our fans so that we can be the final target for a lot of ENGENEs and K-Pop fans out there.
JAKE: We had actually an opportunity to meet a small number of ENGENEs offline this year. But as a group that debuted during this time in the pandemic, it’s really disappointing that we can’t go international and meet our international fans. We really hope it goes well, we will be able to travel the world freely to also meet you in person and meet all of our ENGENES. But otherwise there is still a lot to come. Stay tuned.
