Music / ENHYPEN

One, two! Connect!!^*: Back row: Sunghoon, Ni-ki, Jungwon, Heeseung, Sunoo. Front row (L-R): Jake, Jay.

ENHYPEN is a Korean idol group that debuted in November 2020 as the first act from BELIFT LAB, a label founded jointly by the companies CJ ENM and HYBE (then BigHit Labels). Its members (Jungwon, Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-ki) were selected through the Mnet music competition show I-LAND, which was also livestreamed globally on HYBE LABELS' Youtube channel throughout the third quarter of the same year. Officially, "ENHYPEN" references the hyphen symbol (yes, "-"), taking on its meaning of connection to apply it to the connection of the members to each other, as well as "their ambitious plan to connect people and the world through their music".

As HYBE's third original boy group (that is, trained and managed with BIGHIT's direct involvement), ENHYPEN, like TXT, contains influences from synth pop and hip-hop, but where TXT takes on a more whimsical yet nostalgic approach with a Coming of Age Story containing fantasy (and occasional creepy) elements, ENHYPEN takes on a somewhat Darker and Edgier aesthetic concept themed after the supernatural, with their music and videos telling a story of seven vampire boys, which is known as DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR.

Members

• Jungwon (full name Yang Jung-Won, born on February 9th, 2004), leader.
• Heeseung (full name Lee Hee-Seung, born on October 15th, 2001).
• Jay (full name Jay Park/Park Jong-Seong, born on April 20th, 2002).
• Jake (full name Jake Sim/Sim Jae-Yun, born on November 15th, 2002).
• Sunghoon (full name Park Sung-Hoon, born on December 8th, 2002).
• Sunoo (full name Kim Sun Oo, born on June 24th, 2003).
• Ni-Ki (real name Nishimura-Riki, born on December 9th, 2005), maknae.

Music Videos

• Border: Day One (2020)
  • Given-Taken
  • Let Me In (20 CUBE)
• Border: Carnival (2021)
  • Drunk-Dazed
  • Fever
• Dimension: Dilemma (2021)
  • Tamed-Dashed
• Dimension: Answer (2022)
  • Blessed-Cursed
• Manifesto: Day 1 (2022)
  • Future Perfect (Pass the MIC)
  • Paradoxxx Invasion
• Dark Blood (2023)
  • Bite Me
  • Sacrifice (Eat Me Up)
• Orange Blood (2023)
  • Sweet Venom

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ENHYPEN provides examples of the following tropes:

Band and Member Tropes

• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Jungwon - Sheep Garden^note Because he once did a skit in a grass area wearing a sheep costume, Jung One, Yang Garden, Yang Chamber, and Nyang Jungwon^note Because he's basically a cat
  • Heeseung - Heedeung, Bambi^note because of his pretty eyes that look similar to the animated deer
  • Jay - Angry Bird^note Due to his bird motifs and Hair-Trigger Temper
  • Jake - Sim Jake, Daeng, and Jayla^note A combination of his and his dog Layla's name
  • Sunghoon - Ice Prince^note due to his prince-like demeanor and past as a competitive figure skater and ENHYPEN’s Handsome Member
  • Sunoo - Ddeonu and Desert Fox
  • Ni-Ki - Super Dancer and Little Michael Jackson^note both are because he's a Child Prodigy in dancing
• Animal Motifs:
  • Jungwon - Cats, with his feline-shaped eyes, tendency to act independently (sometimes to the other members' chargin), and for his love of sassing his fellow members despite being younger than most of them. Sunghoon even thinks he's an actual cat. ENGENEs also compare him to sheep because of a skit he did back in the group's I-LAND days and his rather accurate impressions of sheep sounds.
  • Heeseung - Deer, because of his big "Bambi" eyes and tendency to be as clumsy as a baby deer. Also hamsters because he can do the same faces as the hamster memes.
  • Jay - Birds, mainly eagles because he was raised in America, and also because he sometimes gets compared to the Angry Birds characters (one of them is also named Jay) due to his rather short fuse. Shares cats (mainly black cats) with Jungwon as a second motif, due to his general bad luck and suffering while dealing with the other members.
  • Jake - Puppies (mainly the Golden Retriever breed) for his excitable and sunshine-y side and wolves for... the not cute side.
  • Sunghoon - Penguins, due to his history with ice skating (and some of his mannerisms are like penguins). He also gets compared to rabbits because he has looks like a rabbit with his bunny-like teeth and he acts like a baby bunny when shy. He also shares puppies (namely the white dog breed) with Jake.
  • Sunoo - Foxes, due to his eyes and mischievous side. He's also considered one of the visuals.
  • Ni-Ki - Cheetahs, because of the eyes, fierce on-stage and cute off-stage. Also chicks and ducklings because he's the maknae of the group, and when he pouts, his lips look like a beak.
• The Artifact: Like most HYBE groups, there are no official positions in ENHYPEN save for leader.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Ni-Ki is this, despite not looking or acting the part. He does have a mischievous streak, though, shown when he teases the older members (especially Sunoo).
  • As the second-youngest, Jungwon tends to be babied as well, probably more so than Ni-Ki, despite being the group's leader.
  • Heeseung is the oldest member, but earned the nickname "Fake Maknae" as he tends to act slightly more child-like than Ni-Ki does.
• Big Little Brother: Ni-Ki is the youngest, but as of late 2021 has grown to be the tallest member, notably towering over Heeseung, who's 6 foot tall!
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Most of their hair colors in their comebacks tend to invoke this trope.
  • In their debut with "Border: Day One", Jay and Ni-Ki were blonde, Jake's a brunette and Sunoo, Sunghoon and Jungwon had black hair while Heeseung had wine red hair.
  • In "Dimension: Dilemma" era, Ni-Ki is blonde again, most of the group had dark brown/black hair save for Heeseung whose hair is actually teal and Sunoo who's the redhead with pink hair.
  • Late 2021 and "Dimension: Answer" era had Sunghoon and Jake as the blondes (Sunghoon's is more of a silvery-white), Ni-Ki and Sunoo with black hair (Jungwon actually has blue-black hair and Jay has blonde streaks) and Heeseung returned to red hair, albeit a lighter shade.
  • In the "Manifesto: Day One" photoshoot: Sunghoon and Jake are still blondes (albeit they switched the shades of their hair), Heeseung, Ni-Ki and Jay have black hair (though the latter's hair is blue-black), Jungwon has dark red hair and Sunoo is a ginger.
  • During "Dark Blood", Heeseung and Jake were the blondes, Jay, Jungwon, Sunghoon and Ni-Ki kept their black hair, while Sunoo had deep red hair. By the time the album came out, Jake and Ni-Ki switched places, Jake returning to black hair (not in the MV) while Ni-Ki had silvery-blonde hair.
• Birthday Buddies: Although their age gap is three years, Sunghoon and Ni-Ki are often called "Destinyz" by fans because their birthdays are a day apart. ^note Sunghoon's birthday is December 8, 2002 and Ni-Ki's birthday is December 9, 2005 They even did a birthday live together!
• Bizarre Taste in Food: Ni-Ki microwaved strawberries and asked for salt to put on his watermelon, often defending himself by saying that everyone else in Japan does it too. Funnily enough, he draws the line at anything mint chocolate-flavored.
• But Not Too Foreign: Jay and Jake are both Type 3. Jay was born in Washington, USA and Jake has been raised in Australia since the age of nine, to the point their second country is a part of their nationality, but both are 100% ethnically Korean.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor Jay rarely gets a moment of peace without getting mercilessly teased by the others. It's almost up to Cosmic Plaything levels.
  • Not to Jay's extent, but Sunoo is also a victim of teasing, especially under Sunghoon and Ni-Ki.
• Celebrity Resemblance:
  • Ni-Ki looks like a male version of Jung Ho-yeon aka Kang Sae-byeok. Even the members were shocked by how similar they looked!
  • As far back in their I-LAND days, Jay has gained attention for looking exactly like SEVENTEEN's Jun. The latter's fellow member Hoshi even pointed it out when Jay and Jun met.
• Class Clown: Heeseung is considered by the members (and fans) as the funniest member. More endearing considering that he's the eldest member.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: In some official content like a practice video where they dressed in fruit costumes, the members are each associated with these colors:
  • Jungwon - Yellow
  • Heeseung - Red
  • Jay - Green
  • Jake - Orange
  • Sunghoon - Blue
  • Sunoo - Pink
  • Ni-Ki - Purple
• Cute Little Fangs: Sunghoon has these, which combined with his pale skin went perfectly with their vampire concept.
• Dancing Is Serious Business: Ni-Ki has been dancing since the age of three and by the present he's practically a prodigy at it, and if the group has official positions he'd definitely be the main dancer.
• Deadpan Snarker: The three youngest members (Sunoo, Jungwon and Ni-Ki) made it a daily routine to snark at the older members... and even each other.
  • Life has given Jay a rather dry sense of humor.
• Does Not Like Spam: Everyone but Sunoo hates mint chocolate. Ni-ki (who already eats pretty weird stuff) is more neutral on it (though denies it whenever Sunoo brings it up to to screw with him), but he seems to lean on dislike more.
• Friend to All Living Things: All of them love animals. Dogs, cats, all animals.
• The Gadfly: Despite his pristine beauty and normally withdrawn personality, Sunghoon is the one who tends to screw with the members the most, although in a more sneaky and subtle way. His favorite targets are Sunoo and Jay.
  • The three youngest members, Sunoo, Jungwon and Ni-Ki, are much more openly mischievous than Sunghoon. They even tend to screw with each other!
• Good with Numbers: Jake is really good at math, to the point of being the top of math class when he was younger. He tends to show his skills from random moments, like from talking about physics during a group dinner to often teaching the members how to count during games.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Jay loses his cool rather easily. Doesn't help that he's a frequent victim of teasing.
• Irony: Despite them often being compared to cats (their pairing name even being "Meowz") and their love for said animals, Jungwon and Jay are actually allergic to cats.^note Jungwon's allergies aren't that bad, since he can actually hold them close to his face, but Jay's allergies are implied to be very deadly.
  • Despite his questionable taste in food, Ni-Ki is among the mint chocolate haters.
• Keet: Jake is very excitable like a little puppy.
• The Leader: Jungwon. Despite being the second-youngest and 16 years old when he was chosen he clearly had what it took to be the leader.
• One of the Kids: Downplayed given the age gaps between them all aren't that big and he doesn't act childish a lot, but even though he is the oldest member, Heeseung tends to act like the maknae more than Ni-Ki, the actual one. He even collects different kinds of toys... despite once saying that he's too old for them.
• Princely Young Man: Sunghoon fits three out of four types, with him being popular enough to be chosen as an emcee for Music Bank despite only being a rookie at the time of his selection (Prince Charming type), less outgoing and more introverted and reserved (but he isn't cold at all, just very shy) compared to the other members and didn't have much friends before due to his ice skating career (Ice King type), and is actually a very (and genuinely) warm and kind young man (Gentleman Type). Fittingly appearance-wise, he's known for his statue-like visuals, his snow white skin and ebony black locks, and has dyed his hair in both silvery-white and blonde at some points in 2021 and 2022. One of his more common nicknames is even "Ice Prince".
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Sunghoon is noticeably paler than the other boys. He tends to cross Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette territory in their music videos (save for the ones where he's blonde).
• Shrinking Violet: Sunghoon is shyer and more reserved than the others, more prominent back in their rookie days. Being an MC for 11 months has him grow out of this, but he's still the one who gets flustered the easiest and still often tries to deflect attention away from him.
• Spoiled Sweet: Jake is said to come from a rich family, and has been repeatedly described by many to be very sweet and kind. Bang Chan of Stray Kids even compares him to an angel.
• Team Dad: Jay is a combination of this and Only Sane Man, having to deal with and rein in the more rambunctious members (even Heeseung, who's older than him) when it gets too chaotic and most likely is the one who cook meals for them.
  • As the leader, Jungwon also has shades of this, which is more obvious with Ni-Ki and in situations where the group needs to be serious.
  • Heeseung does have moments of acting this role as well.
• Teen Idol: All seven boys were in their early-late teens when they debuted.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Sunoo loves mint chocolate-flavored food (except the weird stuff). More notable since he's in a group full of mint chocolate haters.
  • Jake and Heeseung love ramyeon, even eating it late at night. Their unit name is even "Ramyeonz".
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Surprisingly, Sunghoon has this dynamic with two members.
  • Sunghoon and Jay argue a lot, but they're undoubtedly the closest of the duos. They're also famously the only unit from I-LAND to debut together.
  • Similarly, Sunoo and Sunghoon have a Tom & Jerry-ish dynamic, but it's a way of them showing how close they are.
• What Beautiful Eyes!:
  • One of Heeseung's nicknames is "Bambi" due to his big, soulful doe eyes.
  • Jungwon also has uniquely large eyes, but they're in a sharper, cat-like shape.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Willingly taking the role of leadership at the age of 16 even with the knowledge of its hardships it has is just one example of Jungwon being this, best shown in this article.
• Younger Than They Look: With his tall height, deep voice, sharp facial features and mature personality, newer ENGENEs and non-fans can be forgiven for thinking anyone but Ni-Ki was the maknae.

Music and Music Video Tropes

• The Ageless: The story of their music videos have the members as vampires, with videos showing them both in Victorian-esque settings and in the present day.
• Breaking and Bloodsucking: The lyrics of "Let Me In (20 CUBE)" invoke imagery of a PG version of this trope.
• Council of Vampires: The "Drunk-Dazed" music video has a scene where the members listen to a faceless female leader, in a context implied to be this.
• Creepy Child: As part of their vampire theme, sometimes the music videos invoke this with the younger members. "Given-Taken", for example, has Sunoo standing in a dark bedroom holding a teddy bear, giving a Kubrick Stare at the camera.
• Creepy Children Singing: "Outro: Cross the Line" and the start of "Intro: The Invitation" have children singing an eerie melody.
• Creepy Circus Music: "Outro: Cross the Line" has elements of this, complete with Creepy Children Singing and an Ominous Pipe Organ towards the end.
• Darker and Edgier: Aesthetics-wise, their debut title track and its follow up can be considered this to BTS's and especially TXT's debut, going for vampire/horror-esque visuals and music videos - "Drunk-Dazed" explicitly features things like blood running through walls, though only in a supernatural/symbolic context. In regards to themes, however, it's more complicated; BTS's very first single had very blunt social critique^note specifically, they criticized the education system and social pressures on youth to work really hard and abandon their dreams to pursue stable careers in Korea, while TXT's story in their first EP music videos tackled topics like loneliness and social ostracization. Both would go on to have much darker and/or mature concepts and aesthetics in some of their later works, so ENHYPEN's future direction in this regard remains to be seen.
  • In regards to their sound, while songs that deal with the vampire plot (like their title tracks, intros and outros) use some horror music tropes or delve into darker sounds that are unusual to Korean idol music ("Given-Taken" contains a constant harp melody and "Intro: The Invitation" has a sound reminiscent of MGMT's Oracular Spectacular, for example), their music overall remains firmly on the pop/R&B/hip hop realm and their side tracks tend to be Lighter and Softer, with even some cute Silly Love Songs like "10 Months".
• Daywalking Vampire: The members don't seem to have issues dancing under the sun in "Given-Taken". One of the teasers for its music video, however, shows smoke coming out of them...
• Fur Against Fang: "Drunk-Dazed" implies a future rivalry between the vampire members and two werewolf strangers, played by members of then still upcoming group &TEAM (and fellow I-LAND contestants) K and EJ.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: The "Given-Taken" music video implies that this is the reason for Jungwon letting Sunoo turn him into a vampire. We're shown clips of the others playing together in a room while Jungwoon looks at them from outside a window. By the end, he succeeds, if his fanged smile at the end is anything to go by.
• Last Note Nightmare: The end of the music video of "Given-Taken". Once the song itself ends, we're treated to about 20 seconds of Creepy Children Singing as we see Jungwon in the room with the others as a new member. The music then transitions to a sound of violins doing a creepy shivering glissando, as Jungwon looks at the camera and shows his new fanged teeth.
• Opening Monologue: The intros and outros of both BORDER: DAY ONE and BORDER: CARNIVAL are only instrumentals with English narration by Jake (with "Outro: Cross the Line" and "Intro: The Invitation" also containing English narration by Jay and Heeseung, respectively).
• Painful Transformation: "Given-Taken" shows scenes of some members writhing in pain as they turn into vampires.
• The Shadow Knows: We know that the two strangers in the "Drunk-Dazed" music video are werewolves because their shadows take a shape that's very similar to the image in the trope main page.
• Theme Naming: The title tracks. Their first EP gave us "Given-Taken", second EP gave us "Drunk-Dazed", and the DIMENSION albums bring us "Tamed-Dashed" and "Blessed-Cursed".
  • Averted with "Future Perfect (Pass The Mic)".
• Vampires Own Night Clubs: PG version in "Drunk-Dazed", which takes place in a house party hosted by the boys.

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