 |
Enhypen conducts a media showcase for their first repackage album “Dimension: Answer” in Seoul on Monday. (Belift Lab) |
K-pop boy band Enhypen on Monday returned with their new album “Dimension: Answer,” a repackage of the act’s million-selling first studio album “Dimension: Dilemma.”
The seven-member band conducted a media showcase in Seoul on Monday afternoon ahead of the album’s release at 6 p.m. that day.
“With the first studio album, we felt we had grown much as a team, and with the new repackage, we hope to show that we’ve advanced even more,” Sunoo said during the media event.
Picking up from where the previous album left off, “Dimension: Dilemma,” which had shown the boys facing a dilemma on whether to get “tamed,” or to “dash” to find the answer, “Dimension: Dilemma,” portrays their next steps toward finding answers in their own ways.
“The album voices our will to refuse the answers set by the world and to find our own answers. We cannot be sure about what the right answer is, but still we will not follow what’s given by society, and find our own,” Jake said.
While the previous title song, “Tamed-Dashed,” had given the members a chance to reflect on the dilemma they face as K-pop artists, “Blessed-Cursed” portrayed the solution they had discovered for that dilemma. Just like the boys in the story, who realize that all the rules of the world surrounding them does not make them “blessed” but “cursed,” Enhypen members also have declared to discover their own answer to their lives.
Portraying such message, the song brings Enhypen back to their original color -- dark and powerful.
“I think this song is what best embodies Enhypen. If we had shown a different, fresh side of us in the previous album, this time it’s all about ‘being Enhypen’ and ‘performances only Enhypen can do,’” Jay said.
About the new song, the members described it as a 1970s hybrid hip-hop genre with choreography points coming with the rocking guitar sound in the introduction and the hip hop-based sounds throughout the song.
Stating that their performances have been upgraded overall, leader Jungwon said they trained hard, practicing for seven hours on end on some days. He said they also watched videos of BTS, a senior group in their label Hybe, to make their moves more perfectly in sync.
“BTS are famous for their perfectly-synchronized group performances. We also want to become a group who is recognized for our seamlessly perfect synchronicity on stage,” Jungwon said.
 |
Enhypen conducts a media showcase for their first repackage album “Dimension: Answer” in Seoul on Monday. (Belift Lab) |
Sunghoon and Jungwon both picked the new title song as having the most difficult, strenuous choreography, and said they put in special effort into maintaining their strength throughout the song.
The album also included two new B side tracks, “Polaroid Love,” which was released during the group’s fan meeting on Nov. 19, and “Outro: Day 2,” in which Jake did the narration.
Coming together through the Mnet idol competition “I-Land” in 2020, the group made their official debut in November that year with their first EP “Border: Day One.”
The rookies ended last year on a big note with “Dimension: Dilemma,” winning the million-seller title, with over 1.2 million units in album sales. The LP also topped Japan’s Oricon daily album and weekly album charts, and debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 album chart, seven spots up from the act‘s previous album.
“We didn’t expect to become a million-seller. I couldn’t believe it until I read news articles about it,” Sunghoon said.
“Engene came to my mind the very moment I heard the news. None of this could have happened if it wasn’t for the love and support of Engene,” Jake said, thanking their fans, Engene.
On their goals with the new album, Ni-ki said, “We hope that more people become aware of us. Although we have our weaknesses, we want to show how much we can grow, both as a team and individuals.”
On their new year plans, Heeseung said, “I hope we can have more time communicating with Engene. My goal is to stand on the stage filled with the cheers of Enhypen and Engene.” Sunghoon piped into say, “I hope we could meet our overseas fans this year as we have never had the chance to until now. We hope that we can connect with more people through music and performance during our world tour in 2022.”
By Choi Ji-won (
jwc@heraldcorp.com)
