Enhypen 'deeply deals with love' in its brighter second album

From dark fantasy to sweetness overload — boy band Enhypen is back for the summer with a sweet twist in its music for its second full-length album “Romance: Untold.”

Boy band Enhypen performs its new song “XO (Only If You Say Yes)” from its second full-length album ″Romance: Untold″ during a showcase held at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in southern Seoul on July 11. [NEWS1]

From dark fantasy to sweetness overload — boy band Enhypen is back for the summer with a sweet twist in its music for its second full-length album “Romance: Untold.”

“We’re back with a very different style of music than the kind of music that we’ve been showing up until now,” Jungwon told reporters during a showcase held Thursday in southern Seoul ahead of the album’s release on Friday at 1 p.m.

“Our songs follow a storyline for each album and this time, we focused on the idea of romance and love,” Jungwon said. “It’s a brighter turn from the darker songs that we’re known for, but we could always change according to our experiences or our direction.”

“Romance: Untold” comes as Enhypen's first full-length album in the two years and nine months since “Dimension: Dilemma” (2021). The 10-track album once again portrays the unripe emotions of young men, as the band has consistently been doing since its debut in 2020, but with a special focus on the immature but pure emotions that arise amid romantic passion.

“This actually starts a new chapter of romance stories for us,” said Sunwoo. “It was the ‘Blood’ series beforehand, but now it’s the new ‘Romance’ series. We really prepared so much, so we hope you look forward to what we have to offer.”

Members of boy band Enhypen during the showcase for its second full-length album ″Romance: Untold″ on July 11 in southern Seoul [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

Members of boy band Enhypen during the showcase for its second full-length album ″Romance: Untold″ on July 11 in southern Seoul [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

Members of boy band Enhypen during the showcase for its second full-length album ″Romance: Untold″ on July 11 in southern Seoul [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

Lead track “XO (Only If You Say Yes)” reflects the whole theme of the album, according to members. The song tells the story of a young man who is “ready to give it all for love — as long as ‘you’ give permission.”

“We really wanted to come back with an album that deeply deals with love,” said Heeseung. “The keyword of the album is therefore 'love,' and each track tells the story of love in different ways. It’s basically a single story told through different songs.”

An English version of “XO” is also included in the album, along with B-side tracks “Moonstruck,” “Your Eyes Only,” “Hundred Broken Hearts” and more. A CD-only track is also available in the album, titled “Highway 1009,” written by all members for the fans.

“This is my favorite song,” said Heeseung, explaining “Highway 1009.” The 1009 in the title stands for Oct. 9, when the band’s fan club Engene was formed, according to Enhypen.

Boy band Enhypen during a showcase held on July 11 [BELIFT LAB]

Boy band Enhypen during a showcase held on July 11 [BELIFT LAB]

“This is the first time for all seven of us to take part together [in making a song],” he said. “It’s really meaningful for us, and we hope that it’s the same for the fans, too.”

Enhypen was especially involved in the creation of “Romance: Untold.” All members took part in either writing the lyrics, the music or producing the album’s songs, which was a first for some of the members.

The band also starred in a 12-minute short film, also titled "Romance: Untold," to better convey the narrative of the album. The members met with some 1,500 fans last month in a special screening session held at the Megabox Coex branch in southern Seoul.

“We really wanted to try something new for the album,” Jake said. “We're really proud of what we've come up with, and we hope that people enjoy it too.”

Boy band Enhypen during a showcase held on July 11 [BELIFT LAB]

Boy band Enhypen during a showcase held on July 11 [BELIFT LAB]

“Romance: Untold” surpassed 2.2 million copies of preorders as of Thursday 2 p.m., signaling another possible million-selling album following the success of “Manifesto: Day 1” (2022), “Dark Blood” (2023) and “Orange Blood” (2023), which all sold over 1 million copies within the first week of release.

“This really is my favorite album out of all our work so far,” Jake said. "We're very confident about it, and I really think that the fans will like it, too.”

The band began its "Fate” world tour last year in Seoul and continued its Asian leg last month after finishing its U.S. portion in May. The band will perform in Jakarta, Indonesia on Aug. 17 and 18 and in Japan from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1. It will also perform at the Rock In Japan Festival 2024 at the Soga Sports Park in Chiba Prefecture on Aug. 10.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]