K-pop stars Enhypen are in the middle of a banner year.
Back with their sixth EP, Desire : Unleash, the seven-member boy group under Hybe’s Belift Lab made their Coachella debut in April and are preparing to head out on a world tour across North America and Europe.
Enhypen — comprised of members Jungwon, Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-ki — were formed through the music survival show I-Land. The show, a joint venture between Hybe and Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM, aired on the CJ ENM-owned channel Mnet in South Korea.
On the latest album, the group, unsurprisingly, explores desire in all its forms. Their lead single, “Bad Desire (With or Without You)” is endlessly catchy and sonically in line with past releases. The otherworldly music video starts with a chilling voiceover: “Did you really think I could just stand by and watch you disappear?” Enhypen’s lore — the storyline that has unraveled throughout their career — leans supernatural, specifically vampiric, in nature, and “Bad Desire” continues that through-line.
Below, Enhypen shares the inspiration behind the album, what their Coachella experience was like and what they’re planning for their upcoming world tour.
What’s the concept behind Desire : Unleash, and why are you all so excited about the release?
JUNGWON Just as the title implies, the overarching theme and concept is desire. To elaborate a little bit on our lead single (“Bad Desire”), there can be various forms of desire, right? I think one of them could be how you want to be equal to the person that you’re in love with. This song revolves around the concept of that and the struggles and internal conflicts that comes with love.
Does anyone have a favorite song on the album?
JAKE “Loose.” It’s a very good song. With the weather getting very hot, I think it’s a good song to listen to when you’re feeling a bit too hot. It makes you more relaxed and makes you cooler. It’s a very nice, light and breezy song.
SUNOO “Flashover” is my favorite. The song itself is just really uplifting. I get very hyped when I listen to it, and I just think it’s the perfect opening track to kick the album off.
“I think we have a great team behind us that put out such a detailed and unique album every time,” says Jake of the group’s new album.
Belift Lab
“Outside” is a really fun track. Can you tell me a bit more about the song?
JAKE “Outside” has a very tense and very strong baseline, which is I think is very unique and very appealing. I feel like it’s a very hip hop style song. We haven’t done that before. We’ve done hip hop style songs before, but I think this one is very unique and it’s even more deep. It’s a great song that we decided to put on the album because we felt like the energy of the song and the style of the song suits the whole theme of Desire very well.
Jay, what was it like getting to produce and play guitar on “Helium?”
JAY This was an opportunity that I have been training for ever since our debut, so I’m really grateful for it. I’m especially proud and happy that I got to write a song for the group. I really put every bit of my last effort into this and the recording went really smoothly. The outcome also came out very beautifully. I’m very happy and proud of the results.
What was the experience of performing at Coachella like? Were there any moments that stood out?
JAY We prepared very hard for the performance. It was a tricky performance. There were some weather issues, but I believe just every moment of it was a great experience and it enabled us to grow further as artists.
Do you feel you learned anything about yourself as a performer during your sets? At a big festival like that, there can be technical difficulties or extreme weather conditions that you can’t control.
JAKE The technical difficulties, like you said, it’s something that the group and our team can prepare for prior to the performance. Other than that, being up on stage, I feel like we all felt something different because Coachella itself is a very well-known stage that a lot of artists dream about playing, and it really was more than expected. The energy, the vibe and the crowd were very different to what we were used to, but in a very good way. Just performing there was very fun, very exciting [to be] walking around, seeing everyone. We actually got to watch Post Malone’s set the day after our performance. Overall, we had a great time.
Enhypen’s latest single, “Bad Desire (With or Without You),” explores the desire to be equal with the person you love.
Belift Lab
Was there anyone else that you saw and you enjoyed?
JUNGWON I watched the show for about two hours straight the day before we went on the stage. The artists that left the biggest impression on me were Benson Boone and Tyla. Their live vocals were just so impeccable [that] I thought they were playing the [studio version].
JAKE We also watched Lisa.
JUNGWON We really wanted to be there for her show, but it was the day before, so we were really sad that we couldn’t go, but we saw Lisa’s performance as well online.
You’re preparing to head to the U.S. this summer for your world tour. Is there a song in particular you’re excited to perform this time around?
NI-KI We prepared a lot of rearrangements for this tour. The set list features a lot of rearranged songs. I’m particularly excited for “Pass the Mic” [“Future Perfect (Pass the Mic)”] because during other shows fans loved it. We had a great time performing it at Coachella as well. I’m really excited for the U.S. fans to see it and watch it in person.
Your trajectory as a group is really interesting. You’ve grown alongside your music, but you’ve also grown up alongside your fans, Engenes. What has that experience been like?
JUNGWON I believe we are a rather unique case because we debuted through an audition program. We don’t consider ourselves 100 percent perfect even now. Back then, likewise, we weren’t fully perfected as a new group. On the bright side, I think that gave us a great opportunity to share this growth journey with our fans. They were with us every step of the way. In the past, we used to have some what ifs about our debut. Looking back, I think it was a great opportunity for us to form a tighter bond with our fans. Like I said, we don’t believe that we are 100 percent perfect even now. We just want to continue on communicating and connecting with our fans and sharing this growth journey with them as we go forward. I just hope that this beautiful relationship will last further into the future.