Enhypen
Enhypen is a South Korean boy band formed by Belift Lab. Formerly a joint venture between CJ ENM and Hybe Corporation, the group was formed through the 2020 survival competition show I-Land. The group consists of seven members: Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-Ki. They debuted on November 30, 2020, with the extended play Border: Day One.
Name
The name Enhypen was introduced during the live broadcast of the final episode of I-Land. Etymologically, the group derives their name from the hyphen symbol, representing "Connection, Discovery, & Growth". Similar to how a hyphen connects different words to create new meanings, Enhypen aims "to come together to connect, discover and grow together to form a new act".Career
Pre-debut activities and formation through ''I-Land''
In March 2019, Belift Lab was co-founded by South Korean entertainment agencies CJ E&M and Hybe Corporation, with plans to create a new band in 2020. Auditions commenced the same month in Seoul, the United States, Taiwan, and Japan, among others locations, seeking male trainees born between 1997 and 2008.On May 8, 2020, television channel Mnet announced the survival competition series I-Land as part of the joint venture between the two entertainment companies that "follows the process of next generation K-pop artists being born". Enhypen was formed through the show, which featured 23 male trainees, some of whom were originally auditioned for Belift, while others transferred from Big Hit Music. The show aired weekly on Mnet from June 26 to September 18, 2020, and internationally on Hybe Labels' YouTube channel. The series was split into two parts, with the top 12 contestants from the first part advancing to the second. On the last episode of the show, seven members were selected out of the nine final contestants, with six chosen by global rankings and one by producers' choice. The final lineup of Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-Ki was announced on the live television broadcast of the finale.
2020–2021: Debut, ''Border'' series, and ''Dimension: Dilemma''
On October 22, 2020, a trailer titled "Choose-Chosen" was posted to Enhypen's YouTube channel, announcing the group'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, Belift announced that Enhypen would release their debut extended play Border: Day One on November 30. Ahead of their debut, the group accumulated over one million followers on social media platforms TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and V Live.On November 4, Border: Day One was announced to have amassed over 150,000 pre-orders within two days, surpassing 300,000 copies by November 21. The EP and lead single "Given-Taken" were released on November 30, accompanied by a live showcase.
On December 4, Enhypen officially made their live debut on KBS' Music Bank, performing "Given-Taken". Border: Day One charted at number 39 on the Japanese Oricon 2020 Yearly Album Chart and at number two on the South Korean Gaon Album Chart, having sold 318,528 copies in one day domestically and becoming the highest-selling album by a K-pop group that debuted in 2020. Within two weeks of their debut, the band won Next Leader Award at the 2020 Fact Music Awards. In February 2021, Border: Day One received a platinum certification from the Korea Music Content Association, the group's first certification in the country. On March 25, 2021, Belift announced that Enhypen would make their comeback at the end of April.
Their second extended play, Border: Carnival, was announced in a trailer titled "Intro: The Invitation" released on April 5. The EP was released in conjunction with lead single "Drunk-Dazed". On April 8, it was announced that EP pre-orders had surpassed 370,000 copies in three days. By the day before release, pre-orders surpassed 450,000 copies. On May 4, Enhypen received their first-ever music show win on SBS MTV's The Show with "Drunk-Dazed", followed by wins on Show Champion and Music Bank. Border: Carnival debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, the group's first chart-topper in Japan, with over 83,000 copies sold. On May 25, Border: Carnival debuted at number 18 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also debuted at numbers nine, four, four, and six on the Billboard World Albums, Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales, and Tastemaker Albums charts, respectively. In addition, Enhypen made their first appearance, at number 18, on the Billboard Artist 100 chart; "Drunk-Dazed" entered at number three on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.
On July 6, Enhypen made their Japanese debut with the single "Border: Hakanai". Its track list included "Forget Me Not", which served as the opening theme for the anime Re-Main, and the Japanese versions of "Given-Taken" and "Let Me In ".
On July 29, Enhypen collaborated with the animated television series Tayo the Little Bus to remake the theme song "Hey Tayo" and released a new song titled "Billy Poco".
On August 25, Belift confirmed that Enhypen would release new music at the end of September. On September 2, however, plans were postponed when Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, and Jungwon tested positive for COVID-19; on September 5, Ni-Ki also tested positive. On September 16, Belift announced the members had recovered and that their first studio album, Dimension: Dilemma, would be released on October 12, with a trailer titled "Intro: Whiteout" released on September 17. On September 23, it was announced that album pre-orders had surpassed 600,000 copies in six days. By October 7, pre-orders surpassed 910,000 copies. Following the release of Dimension: Dilemma on October 12, the album placed first on the Oricon Album Chart in Japan and Gaon Album Chart in Korea. On October 19, Enhypen received their fourth music show win on SBS MTV's The Show with "Tamed-Dashed", followed by wins on Show Champion and Music Bank. On October 25, Dimension: Dilemma debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, surpassing their previous peak with Border: Carnival. In addition, Enhypen also entered Billboard Artist 100 at number 12. As of November 2021, Dimension: Dilemma sold over 1.1 million copies on the Gaon charts, making it the group's first-ever million-selling album, and was certified as such by KMCA in December. On December 9, Belift confirmed that Enhypen would release Dimension: Answer, a repackaged version of Dimension: Dilemma, on January 10, 2022. On December 20, the label also confirmed that in February, Enhypen would release the original Japanese song "Always" as the theme for the NTV drama Muchaburi! I will be the president, which would air beginning on January 12, 2022.
2022: ''Dimension'' series, ''Manifesto: Day 1'', first world tour, and ''Sadame''
On January 8, 2022, media outlets revealed that pre-orders for Dimension: Answer surpassed 630,000 copies. On January 19, Enhypen received their seventh music show win on MBC M's Show Champion with "Blessed-Cursed", followed by a win on Music Bank on the January 21. The track became the group's first song to peak at number one on the Gaon Download Chart, while the album peaked at number one on both the Gaon Album Chart and Oricon Albums Chart, making it Enhypen's third consecutive album to top the Japanese charts. It was announced on January 20 that the group set a record for the most entries of on Billboard's Hot Trending Songs Weekly, with six songs. Enhypen also earned their third top 20 entry on the Billboard 200, with Dimension: Answer charting at number 13, and their third consecutive number one on the Billboard World Albums chart.On January 16, the first of a new fictional webtoon series about the group was released, titled Dark Moon: The Blood Altar.
On February 11, Belift announced that member Sunoo tested positive for COVID-19. On February 15, Belift announced Sunoo had fully recovered and ended quarantine, resuming activities on February 16.
Enhypen's Japanese digital single "Always" was released on February 22, 2022. It was included on the track list of Enhypen's second Japanese single "Dimension: Senkō". The single was released on May 3 and also featured Japanese versions of "Tamed-Dashed" and "Drunk-Dazed". "Tamed-Dashed" became the group's first number one song on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, with 386,142 units sold in the first week. The single became Enhypen's first Japanese release to exceed 300,000 copies sold according to Oricon, making Enhypen the fifth K-pop act to achieve this within one week of release.
On June 14, Belift announced that Enhypen would be releasing their third extended play, Manifesto: Day 1, on July 4, with a trailer titled "Walk the Line" released on the same day. The EP became their second million-selling album and made them the fastest K-pop group to achieve two such albums.
On July 12, the group received their ninth music show win on SBS MTV's The Show with "Future Perfect ", followed by wins on Show Champion and Music Bank.
In July, it was announced that Enhypen would be embarking on their first world tour, Manifesto, starting in September 2022 in Seoul and ending in Japan in November. It was also confirmed that on August 12, they would release the original song "I Need The Light" as the theme for the Playlist and Naver NOW 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 their activities on the same day. On July 28, the label confirmed Heeseung also fully recovered and ended quarantine, resuming his activities on the same day.
On August 12, Esquire Korea officially announced that Enhypen would be on the cover of its September 2022 issue.
On August 15, Belift announced that member Sunoo was would not participate in the last fan signing event on the same day due to health issues. Two days later on August 17, it was announced Sunoo would not be able to fly to Los Angeles for the group's performance at KCON.
On August 18, Major League Baseball team Los Angeles Dodgers announced that Enhypen would throw out the ceremonial first pitch at their game against Miami Marlins at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California on August 19.
On August 24, Belift announced that member Sunoo had recovered and would resume his activities on the same day.
On August 27, the teaser for "One in a Billion", from the official soundtrack for the webtoon Dark Moon: The Blood Altar, was released; the song premiered on September 3, and the music video and digital single were officially released on September 6.
On October 18, was announced that Enhypen's first world tour would be extended through January and February 2023 with concerts in Philippines and Thailand.
On October 26, Enhypen's first Japanese studio album Sadame was released through Universal Music Japan with nine tracks: the original Japanese songs "Always" and "Forget Me Not", the Japanese versions of "Blessed-Cursed" and "Future Perfect ", and the Japanese version "Polaroid Love" as a CD-only bonus track. Sadame also contained the original Japanese song "Make the Change", which was selected as the theme song for the second season of the Tokai TV and Fuji TV Japanese drama Saikou no Obahan Nakajima Haruko, which began airing on October 8. The song was digitally pre-released on October 12.
On November 16, it was announced that two shows in Japan were added to Enhypen's world tour at Kyocera Dome in Osaka. On November 28, the song "Zero Moment"—performed by members Heeseung, Jay and Jake—was released as a part of the theme songs for the ENA and Genie TV Korean drama Summer Strike, which began airing in November 21.