ENHYPEN Gives Summer Feels in “Tamed-Dashed”

It's been interesting to watch ENHYPEN's journey, from the highs and lows of I-LAND to their first studio album, DIMENSION : DILEMMA. The changes and development they're undergoing has them growing so quickly as artists that, at this point, I'm just excited to see where they go when they hit their stride—because let's face it, BigHit Entertainment artists have a different kind of platform, and different opportunities.

When I say BigHit artists have different opportunities, it's due to a unique situation where rookie groups coming up under K-Pop Gods, BTS, start their career with ARMYs in their corner and therefore have a certain creative freedom to take risks. ENHYPEN’s been relatively reserved in this aspect, but the journey is the destination.

“TAMED-DASHED”

New title track "Tamed-Dashed" is their most infectious jam yet, with a catchy electro-pop chorus that's as fun to listen to as their choreo is to watch. It's a little hard to review them individually and do them justice; so much of the production is filtered to a point that the boys don't get much opportunity to stand out, though that filtration isn't so scuzzy here as it was in, say, "Drunk-Dazed."

While the song itself is, honestly, my favorite title of theirs to date, the music video is its own point of interest. From their debut, ENHYPEN has carried an ongoing vampire narrative, which I had 100% expected them to lean into full force in October, but they flipped the script entirely with a summer schoolboy concept in autumn—which was extra surprising after their initial concept photos.

That's not to say they've abandoned the vampire thing; there are glimpses of it throughout, with emphasis on Sunoo and NI-KI specifically. The rest of the video has the boys inside their school and playing outside in the sun, which notably has an effect when it burns Sunoo's skin and it almost seems to show bits from two separate time periods—one in the past where “Given-Taken” takes place and one between then and “Drunk-Dazed.”

DIMENSION : DILEMMA

The album has eight tracks total, with another intro by resident English-speaker Jake, and it ends with an interlude rather than an outro, so we may be in for a part two later on. There's some real bangers on this album, like "Upper Side Dreamin’,” but the production is a little distracting throughout just in its similarity to TXT (Tomorrow x Together)’s The Chaos Chapter releases—which is least surprising to find on “Blockbuster,” featuring TXT’s Yeonjun. This is likely just a result of making music with the same producers, and it’s not really to their detriment, but we look forward to seeing how their individual charms emerge.