by Jaya Gupta ’25
Orange Blood by ENHYPEN, a slightly disappointing follow-up to the success of Dark Blood earlier this year, had its faults, but its goodness could have been greatness with a few small changes.
ENHYPEN is a K-pop boy group with seven members, formed on the 2020 reality show I-Land. Over the course of their career so far, ENHYPEN has released various albums and EPs, including collaborations with big companies such as Pokémon and Coca-Cola. They’ve also released theme songs for multiple children’s shows and movies; for instance, they recently participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on the Baby Shark Movie float, performing “Keep Swimming Through.”
Their newest comeback, Orange Blood, is a 7-track album released on November 17. Conforming to the format of their usual albums, Orange Blood kicks off with the intro: “Mortal.” It is the length of a full song, but the majority of it is speaking. In Korean, English, and Japanese, respective to the native language of each member, ENHYPEN narrates a story. The story contributes to their album concept that follows and continues the group lore (a lore which I can’t understand) while an instrumental plays in the background. “Mortal” is almost four minutes long, and the speaking takes two 30-second pauses for Jake and Sunoo to sing the “chorus” of the song. ENHYPEN’s fans (ENGENES) always love the signature intros, but love the singing portion so much that they wish it was adapted into a full version, rather than just a chorus.
The title track is called “Sweet Venom.” It is good, but not as great as previous ENHYPEN title tracks. The song explores the theme of being consumed by a toxic relationship: a feeling that something dangerous and enticing is spreading inside the narrator, leading them into a sweet kind of pain. If there’s one thing you can always rely on from ENHYPEN, it’s that the vocals will serve. Disregarding the incredible main melody of the song, ENHYPEN supplements their already mind-altering voices with ethereal harmonies and background vocals from Heeseung that have your jaw on the floor. The catchy choreography and trademark “shh” dance move fit really well with the song, but it’s less intense than what ENHYPEN usually puts out. Again, it fits the vibe of the song, but it’s a little bit of an exhale after the fandom-shattering “Bite Me” (the title track of their last album, Dark Blood) that Ni-ki helped choreograph himself.
One last problem with this song is the line distribution. In K-pop, the number of seconds per song that each member gets to sing is important, especially when it comes to groups with as many as thirteen members (ENHYPEN only has seven members, but it still applies).
Though Heeseung is given the position of “center” upon ENHYPEN’s debut, it is somewhat concerning how much more singing time he gets compared to the other members. In the title track alone, Heeseung has more than twice as many lines as the member with the second most lines, Jay, and more than four times as many as the member with the least lines, Sunghoon. A lot of this time is from Heeseung’s aforementioned background vocals periodically throughout the song, but even without these, he would have more singing time than any of the other members. This pattern is consistent throughout most of the ENHYPEN discography.
Next up is their main B-side, “Still Monster.” How. How do I put into words the need for my DNA to be rewritten with this melody? In my opinion, this song should have been the title track. It further aligns with the title track bangers ENHYPEN has been putting out, and if the hook choreo lived up to their reputation a little better, this song would get the recognition it deserves. The lyrics convey the complex emotions of a person who sees themselves as a monster despite being in love, portraying a sense of self-awareness and internal struggle. The melody lilts with so much power and pain it makes you want to cry. The vocals that ENHYPEN always put so much effort into for their songs just completely carry this one. The fact that the hook choreography for this song is slightly disappointing and not as powerful as the vocals barely affects its excellence. The trend for ENHYPEN is always to release a music video for their title track and main B-side, and ENGENES can’t wait for this song’s music video to release.
The fourth song on Orange Blood is called “Blind.” The lyrics express the narrator’s strong and unyielding love for someone; the willingness to go to great lengths for the person they deeply care about, even if it means losing themselves in the process. “Blind” is unsurprisingly a good song, but the chorus and the strength of the lyrics with the melody really make this song special. It kind of has a haunting aura that adds to the concept of painful love that is extended throughout the album. The last original song in this album is “Orange Flower (You Complete Me).” The lyrics showcase a sense of darkness and emptiness before finding the one you love, then the fulfillment you get from being with them. It closes out the narrative of healthy and unhealthy relationships exhibited over the course of the album.
An interesting addition to the album is “Sweet Venom (English Ver.),” because while other K-pop groups will often release English versions of their title tracks, this is not something ENHYPEN has done before. I-ENGENES (international fans) were very appreciative of this version’s appearance on the album. In many of their opinions, mine included, the English version is better than the Korean title track. The bridge, sung by Sunghoon and Heeseung, is particularly popular among international fans: “I would give up heaven if I had to, just to get another taste of your sweet venom.” ENHYPEN performed “Sweet Venom (English Ver.)” on Good Morning America a couple of weeks ago, giving a performance that I-ENGENES couldn’t be more happy with as the only non-Korean performance they will likely do.
The success of this album comes to a staggering halt with the addition of a feature to “Sweet Venom (English Ver.)” as the last song on Orange Blood. Bella Poarch is a social media personality, known for having created the most-liked video on TikTok. Though she has released a few mildly popular songs, I would not go to any reach to say that she is a musician. I had actually never considered her as a singer before I saw that she would be featured on this song. The feature is fully arbitrary – she literally adds nothing to the song, she just sings the second verse as it already is and some background vocals in the last two choruses. Her voice seems completely out of place and random; I find her inclusion utterly unnecessary. ENGENES had said “Sweet Venom (English Ver.)” sounded like a Jonas Brothers song, so it would have made much more sense even if the Jonas Brothers had just replaced Poarch’s small part. And we know they might have been willing to collaborate with a K-pop group, as they already released “Do It Like This” with TOMORROWXTOGETHER (a different K-pop group) this summer.
The album overall left very little to be desired, and only one song to not be desired at all. I rate this album a 7/10.
ENHYPEN continues to release chart-topping music, blowing the minds of fans worldwide, and I encourage you to listen to some of their music.
