Enhypen vampires enter new era with Brazilian funk

The vampires of Enhypen have embraced Brazilian funk, marking a wild, raw departure from the K-pop boy band’s usual polished dark aesthetic.

Its latest EP, “The Sin: Bliss,” marks the group’s first new album since former member Heeseung’s sudden departure in March. Now reorganized as a sextet, the group promised to deliver what it expects to be one of the best among its discography.

“What we always had at the forefront of our minds was how our work would turn out,” said leader Jungwon during a press conference held in central Seoul on Thursday, ahead of the EP’s release on Friday.

Recalling the group’s March performance in Australia, just a few days after the departure of Heeseung — now known as soloist Evan — was announced, Jungwon stressed that putting forward the best songs and performances has always remained the members’ priority.

“And since we launched the ‘Bloody Saga’ tour in May in Seoul, we have received a lot of energy throughout our journey across North and South Americas and most recently Busan,” he continued. “During that, we could see that Engene [Enhypen’s fandom] and we felt the same way, and we were able to pour the energy we received into making this album.”

Enhypen, launched by HYBE’s Belift Lab in 2020, consists of Jungwon, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-Ki, and has built its discography around a narrative portraying the members as vampires in love with a human.

“The Sin: Bliss” is the second installment in the group’s “The Sin” series, started with its seventh EP, “The Sin: Vanish,” released in January.

“The Sin: Bliss” continues that narrative from the previous album, which centered on vampires breaking away from society’s rules to elope with a human, focusing on the struggles that follow their escape and the freedom and happiness they ultimately find in each other.

Like the previous album, “The Sin: Bliss” features four narrations and interludes interspersed between six music tracks — “Two Fools,” “Stuck,” “Bad For You,” “Bloody Paradise,” “Checkmate” and “Highlight” — making the experience of listening to the album like following the immersive narrative of a musical.

The lead track, “Bloody Paradise,” is an intense Brazilian funk song produced with the participation of JULiA LEWiS, the producer behind Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” (2025).

As the latest lead single marks a departure from the group’s usual darker pop sound, member Jake said, “Because it feels different overall, we thought we should take this opportunity to show a new side of ourselves.”

Member Sunghoon described the song as “something familiar, like a spicy and salty tteokbokki [spicy rice cake] dish, but one served at a restaurant,” highlighting the group’s fresh take on the widely popular music genre.

“Because we know how much potential this genre has, it made us even more excited,” said Jay. “At the same time, we deliberated a lot over what we could bring to the genre that would be uniquely ours.”

Jay expressed confidence in the work, describing the album as “the best album of Enhypen’s career.”

“As performers, we always extensively share our opinions on the music, performances and related content,” he said. “This time, we were all on the same page about how satisfied we were with the quality, which was very unusual. That left us with the fewest regrets we have ever had while preparing an album.”

As Enhypen is returning while many big names, including Ateez, Stray Kids and NCT 127, have been active with new releases throughout the summer, the group says its narrative-driven content could offer fans something refreshing.

“As someone working in K-pop, I am also a fan of the genre, so it is an honor to promote in the same month as such great senior artists,” said Jungwon. “I think Enhypen’s strength is that we have many forms of content that people can immerse themselves in, including the ‘Dark Moon’ animation.”

The group also unveiled a new logo in June, as it reorganized as a six-member team. Jungwon said the group hopes to expand its activities beyond music with renewed resolve.

“Even before the rebranding, ‘connection’ had always been our central keyword,” said Jungwon. “Since the rebranding, we have carried out many activities that connect us with various people beyond music and performances, such as a campaign promoting blood donation. We therefore hope to continue pursuing activities to create a positive influence.”

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]