ENHYPHEN
(Hangul: 엔하이픈, Japanese: エンハイプン) is a seven-member South Korean boy group under
BE:LIFT LAB
, which was a joint venture between
HYBE
and
CJ ENM
.
ENHYPEN debuted on November 30, 2020 with their mini album
BORDER : DAY ONE
.
HYBE
posted the group's first official debut trailer on October 21, 2020.
[1]
The second trailer was posted on October 24, 2020.
[2]
.
In March 2019, BE:LIFT Lab was co-founded by South Korean entertainment agencies CJ E&M and HYBE (known as Big Hit Entertainment at the time), with plans of creating a new band in 2020. Auditions commenced the same month in Seoul, the United States, Taiwan, and Japan, among others, for male trainees born between 1997 and 2008. On May 8, 2020, television channel Mnet announced the survival competition series,
I-LAND
, a joint venture of both companies that "follows the process of next generation K-pop artists being born." ENHYPEN was formed through
I-LAND
, featuring 23 male idols who had been training under BE:LIFT Lab, and was aired weekly on Mnet from June 26 to September 18, 2020, and distributed internationally through Big Hit Entertainment's YouTube channel. The show was split into two parts. 12 contestants from the first part made it to the second part of the series. On the final episode of the show, seven members were selected out of the nine final contestants, with six being chosen by global ranking and the last member by the producer's choice. The debut line-up of the group with seven members,
Heeseung
,
Jay
,
Jake
,
Sunghoon
,
Sunoo
,
Jungwon
, and
NI-KI
, was announced via live television broadcast of the finale.
2020–2021: Debut with
BORDER : DAY ONE
,
BORDER : CARNIVAL
, and
DIMENSION : DILEMMA
On October 22, 2020, a trailer titled "Choose-Chosen" was posted to ENHYPEN's YouTube channel, announcing the band's debut in November 2020. A second trailer titled "Dusk-Dawn" was released three days later, followed by a pair of concept mood boards on October 27. On October 28, BE:LIFT Lab announced that ENHYPEN will release their debut mini album,
BORDER : DAY ONE
on November 30. On November 4, it was announced that album pre-orders had surpassed 150,000 copies in two days. Ahead of their debut, the group amassed a large following on social media platforms, garnering over one million followers simultaneously across TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and V Live. By November 21, pre-orders had surpassed 300,000 copies. The mini album
BORDER : DAY ONE
and the lead single "
Given-Taken
" were released on November 30, 2020, with a live showcase to promote it. On December 4, 2020, ENHYPEN officially made their debut on KBS'
Music Bank
, where the band performed "Given-Taken". The EP debuted at number two on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart, having sold 318,528 copies in one day and becoming the highest-selling album by a K-pop group that debuted in 2020. It also charted at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart, with over 71,000 copies sold in Japan. Within two weeks of debut, the band won "Next Leader" award at the 2020 The Fact Music Awards.
On March 25, 2021, BE:LIFT Lab announced that ENHYPEN will make their comeback in the end of April. A trailer titled "
Intro : The Invitation
" was released on April 5, announcing that their second extended play
BORDER : CARNIVAL
will be released on April 26, 2021.
On July 29th, 2021, ENHYPEN collaborated with the cartoon "
Tayo the Little Bus
" by remaking the theme song "
Hey Tayo
" and by releasing a new song called "
Billy Poco
".
On September 16, 2021, BE:LIFT Lab announced that their first full length album,
DIMENSION : DILEMMA
, is set to be released on October 12, with a trailer titled "
Intro : Whiteout
" being released on September 17. On September 23, it was announced that the album pre-orders had surpassed 600,000 copies in six days.
2022-present:
DIMENSION : ANSWER
, second Japanese single and
MANIFESTO: DAY 1
On the end of December 2021, BE:LIFT Lab released promotional material for the repackage of their first album,
DIMENSION : ANSWER
. The album was released on January 10, 2022.
On January 16, the first of a new fictional webtoon series about the group was released, titled "
Dark Moon: The Blood Altar
".
The group released a second Japanese digital single, "
Always
", on February 22, 2022. "Always" was included as the main theme of the Japanese drama "Muchaburi! I Am the President!", making the song ENHYPEN's first Japanese soundtrack.
ENHYPEN released their Japanese second single
DIMENSION : Senkou
on May 3, 2022. The single featured Japanese versions of "
Drunk-Dazed
" and "
Tamed-Dashed
", as well as the previously released single "Always".
In July 2022, it was announced that ENHYPEN would be embarking on their first world tour starting in September 2022 in Seoul and ending in Japan in November, called the 1st World Tour "
MANIFESTO
" (2022). Also, was confirmed that on August 12 would release the original song "
I Need The Light
(구해줘)" as the theme for the Playlist and Naver NOW’s drama
Mimicus
, which would air beginning on July 22.
On July 21, Belift announced that member
Jay
tested positive for COVID-19; the same day, the label confirmed that member
Jake
also tested positive. On July 22, Belift confirmed that member
Heeseung
also tested positive for COVID-19. On July 27, Belift announced Jay and Jake had fully recovered and ended quarantine, resuming his activities from the same day. On July 28, the label confirmed Heeseung also fully recovered and ended quarantine, resuming his activities from the same day.
On August 27, the teaser for "
One In A Billion
", for the official soundtrack of the webtoon
Dark Moon: The Blood Altar
, was released; the song will premiere on September 3, and the music video and digital single will officially be released on September 6.
On October 26, Enhypen's first Japanese studio album
Sadame
(定め) was released with 10 tracks including the Japanese songs "
Always
" and "
Forget Me Not
", and the Japanese versions of "Polaroid Love", "Blessed-Cursed" and "Future Perfect (Pass the Mic)" through Universal Music Japan. It also contained the new original Japanese song "Make The Change", which was digitally released on October 12.
Etymology
The name means that just like how hyphens connect different words to make new words and meanings, the members of ENHYPEN will "connect, discover each other, and grow together".
Members
Birth name
Birth date
Position(s)
Year(s) active
Final Rank
Heeseung
(희승)
Lee Hee-seung
(이희승)
October 15, 2001
Center
2020-present
Jay
(제이)
Jay Park
(박종성)
April 20, 2002
2020-present
Jake
(제이크)
Jake Sim
(심재윤)
November 15, 2002
2020-present
Sunghoon
(성훈)
Park Sung-hoon
(박성훈)
December 8, 2002
2020-present
Sunoo
(선우)
Kim Sun-woo
(김선우)
June 24, 2003
2020-present
Producer's choice
Jungwon
(정원)
Yang Jung-won
(양정원)
February 9, 2004
Leader
2020-present
NI-KI
(니키)
Nishimura Riki
(西村力)
December 9, 2005
Maknae
2020-present
