Surf's up: Enhypen enjoys the ride with 'Orange Blood'

The boy band opens the second chapter of 'blood' series with new album

K-pop band Enhypen holds a press showcase event for the fifth EP "Orange Blood" in Seoul on Thursday. (Belift Lab)

Enhypen returns with a riveting new sound with its fifth EP "Orange Blood."

The members on Thursday held a press conference in Seoul, a day ahead of the album's release.

Member Jungwon said the album deviates from the team's iconic intoxicating music and exudes a "subtle sexiness."

Representing Enhypen's new sound on "Orange Blood" is "Sweet Venom," a groovy and chill punk-pop melody through which the members vow their eternal love.

According to Sunoo, it is an extension of the title song "Bite Me" from the previous album "Dark Blood."

"The melody is really addictive. When I first heard it I thought 'now this is a title song.' You can sing along to it the instant you hear it, and I think it's gonna make a hit," Sunoo said.

Jay has been credited as a lyricist for the song, his first time taking part in writing lyrics for the team.

"I've tried writing lyrics before, but then, I just wrote what I felt. This time, I focused on writing lines for the team. I looked through the lyrics of our past songs as well," Jay explained.

The album rolls out three versions of "Sweet Venom," the Korean version, an English version and a collaborative edition with American singer Bella Poarch.

"This is our first English song. We didn't simply translate but wrote new lyrics and melodies for the song," Jake said.

The album includes four other songs, "Mortal," "Still Monster," "Far Away" and "Orange Flower (You Complete Me)," which the members said all overflowed with different charms.

Not only the title song, but the whole album continues the story from "Dark Blood," the members said. The so-called "blood" series interweaves elements of Enhypen's original web-comic series "Dark Moon: The Blood Altar."

The keyword of "Orange Blood" is "carpe diem," as the narrator, the boy, reunites with his lover, "you," and pledges to stay with her no matter what, even overcoming the pains of the lethal poison spreading through the body. The boy realizes that nothing in the world lasts forever, and what he can do is giving the best shot at love.

K-pop band Enhypen holds a press showcase event for the fifth EP "Orange Blood" in Seoul on Thursday. (Belift Lab)

Enhypen, consisting of Jay, Jake, Jungwon, Sunghoon, Heeseung, Sunoo and Ni-Ki, celebrated its third anniversary in September. The group was formed through Mnet and Hybe's survival program "I-Land" and officially debuted in 2020 under Belift Lab, a Hybe subsidiary label.

Jay expressed his sincere gratitude to fans, who he said are the biggest source of motivation and inspiration for the team.

"Fans always help us to change in a better way. The different thoughts we have about them and emotions we feel and the experiences we get with them become our knowledge and heart. They have made us think more maturely with time, and we'll work hard to always remember their love and return with better performance," Jay said.

Jake said a deep longing rooted down in all of their hearts and pulled them together.

"We worked on this album almost desperately. We want to release an album that could stand out in the market in this time when so many artists are coming back. We worked hard in various ways -- the music, the collaboration with 'Dark Moon' and to show Enhypen's unique talents -- this album embodies all those elements," Jake noted.

Enhypen's popularity has grown phenomenally in the past three years, during which they held two global tours, with the last one, "Fate," held in landmark stadiums and domes in the US and Asia.

During the "Fate" tour, the group made its historic debut at Japan's Tokyo Dome, one of the most-coveted concert venues in Asia by artists, and did so in the shortest time by a K-pop boy band.

Despite such worldwide success, Enhypen's domestic popularity is comparatively low, and Jungwon said they aim to overcome this limitation with the new album.

"We are aware of the opinion that our music and songs are charting low in Korea compared to our global reputation. We'll work hard to do better and show that Enhypen is a group that never settles," he said.

Sunoo piped in, saying, "We have our first English song, so, hopefully we could also get good scores on the Billboard charts."

The album's message of carpe diem captures what the band itself is going through, Heeseung said.

"If I compare us to surfing, we caught the wave and got on the board in the previous album. With this one, we're ready to enjoy everything about it. Just like the keyword carpe diem, I hope we can give our everything for us and Engene watching us to have fun," said Heeseung.

Enhypen's fifth EP "Orange Blood" and the music video of "Sweet Venom" will come out Friday.

By Choi Ji-won(jwc@heraldcorp.com)