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[Review] ENHYPEN – BORDER: DAY ONE

After the survival show ‘I-LAND’ we finally get to see our boys in the group ENHYPEN with their debut ‘BORDER: DAY ONE’. We’ve been patiently waiting and it’s finally here!

BORDER: DAY ONE

We open with ‘Intro: Walk The Line’. Unfortunately there’s no Johnny Cash influence, honestly that would’ve been amazing. However the intro is a beautiful gasp of freedom and joy after a hard competition. I could totally see them do a victory walk. It’s absolutely beautiful. 

‘Given-Taken’ is next and is also the title track. I am utterly in love with the harp melody. It came accompanied by a brand new music video. The MV is giving me Victorian haunted boarding school vibes with a mix of ‘Underworld’ and ‘Twilight’ when they’re wearing the more contemporary clothes. It’s a very intriguing mix and I’m curious to see where they take the vampire storyline because it wouldn’t be BigHit if they didn’t have a ten year storyline planned out. 

Next up is ‘Let Me In (20 CUBE)’. This is an airy reggae inspired track mixed with a bunch of hip-hop influences. The layering of the instrumentation feels at times very intense. There’s a very deep bass in the background that I wish they had toned down a bit, but overall it’s a really cool song! It’s catchy as hell.

Next up

‘10 Months’ follows that with some puppy love. The ten months refer to a ten month old puppy. This is unbearably adorable. I can’t. Their harmonies are super lovely and the synths going off in the back make it even cuter. 

We’re on track five with ‘Flicker’. This song was performed during the survival show ‘I-LAND’ but this time it’s with all the ENHYPEN members. The vocals are really lovely and it’s nice to see a throwback to the show. 

We close off with the ‘Outro : Cross The Line’ with an old timey carnival vibe. The string line in this is superb. When the kids’ voices came in, I was shook. Why do I feel like I’m gonna be haunted? It borders on the line of being lovely and scary. Quite a feat. 

Go ahead and check out the EP ‘BORDER: DAY ONE’ by ENHYPEN on Spotify here

Ilse Van Den Heede
A writer with a slight coffee addiction and a tendency to find K-Indie gems in the YouTube rabbit hole.