I can’t believe I flat out FORGOT to talk about ROMANCE: UNTOLD on here, omggg. I must have made a mental note about it and kept it moving. Because I haven’t stopped listening to this album between release and now. It’s not my favorite Enha album. Or even top 3, but I love it for bringing (the heat &) my excitement to new Enha music back.
And it’s such a weird thing to say considering I haven’t dropped off them at all. I’m active in the community on Twitter. I’m waiting for my Dimension: Dilemma part 2. Like an album that will have me down bad like that one did when it comes to Enha’s music. Haven’t found that dopamine hit yet. But I think we’re getting closer.
I particularly enjoy the first half of ROMANCE: UNTOLD. So I’ll be spending most of this talking about those tracks. So let’s get the later half tracks out of the way now. “Paranormal” is fine. I like the instrumentals to it more than like the vocal parts to it. “Royalty” is more of my speed. Although it’s structured like “Paranormal”. Both upbeat and bright.
“Highway 1009” is sweet, but I’m not checking for it. I do love all the members having writing credits on it.
Same with “XO” English version. I don’t listen to it ever. I don’t feel an urge to. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why JVKE was promoted so heavily with this song until I looked at the song credits, lol. Him being one of the songwriters makes much more sense now, looking back at the promo cycle. I do like that one TikTok where he’s dancing with all of them in someone’s living room. That was cute.
I really need to do the Enha deep dives to be able to fully articulate my expectations for their music. Because I don’t think I’ve done a great job at that. It’s so hard to narrow down their sound into just one or two genres. Similar to TXT, Enha has always had multiple sounds that make them unique. That’s why I love both groups. You kinda know what you’re going to get from them, but not 100%. They like throwing in surprises.
I wasn’t a fan of ORANGE BLOOD or MANIFESTO: DAY 1. Which is like a hill I’ll die on. I can fully articulate why I wasn’t vibing with either. Although “Future Perfect (Pass the MIC)” has grown on me severely.
I’ve completely flipped my feelings, towards that song. I was soooo wrong about her. I’m now obsessed with her. She is soooo much fun live. I need everyone to experience that feeling. Everyone’s just vibing, scream singing, “you stay still? you stay? you stay?” And the members look like they have such a blast performing it. The more I look at “Future Perfect (Pass the MIC)” the more respect and love I have towards her.
Anyway, for me to say I prefer Enha’s darker concepts/songs to their lighter ones isn’t accurate. “Go Big or Go Home” is probably in my top 5 fave Enha songs. And that’s bright af. It’s also a LDN Noise song. And ENHYPEN actually has a lot of SM producer/writers all over their discography. Some of them have worked on songs I’m not so crazy about, like “Paranormal”.
But usually there’s a good likelihood I’m gonna like those. It’s 50/50 on ROMANCE: UNTOLD. Which is fine. I’m a huge believer of just because you don’t love every song your fave makes, that doesn’t make you less of a fan. But there’s SM folks sprinkled all throughout this mug.
Idk maybe my sound preference for ENHYPEN is just, I want more of what I like and less of what I don’t, lmaooo.
So let’s get into the songs I got on replay.
WAIT the visuals!!! The concept pictures!!! I wanted to talk about that too. Omg I’m all over the place in this article. If you haven’t seen the multiple concept images this era, I implore you to do so. My favorite solo concept is Jake’s INCEPTIO ver pics:
And then group wise ARCANUM and CONCESSIO versions are my top two faves. I really like how ENHYPENDATA on Tumblr edited these photos. So definitely check out the ROMANCE: UNTOLD tag on there. Kpopping also has tons of photos too you can check out. Okay, now to the music.
“Moonstruck” feels like something that could have been on DARK BLOOD or DARK MOON SPECIAL ALBUM <MEMORABILIA>. I like that it’s our album opener. Does nothing to prepare you for the sound shift to “XO” but that’s okay. It’s more of a bridge between the previous albums to this one, I think.
I like that It’s a bit of an odd song, like “Bite Me”. The autotune and slight choppiness to “XO” is less jarring on your first listen than the impact “Bite Me” has first round. I also like that “XO” is a short song. It said what it needed to and doesn’t over stay its welcome. Sometime short songs are fine.
Jungwon’s big brown eyes in the thumbnail?!!!! *Kicking feet and squealing* So cute, love to see it. We’re getting so many of these stuck in a loop music videos lately. I wonder what’s up with that. I like the video. I meant to mention earlier I really enjoy the choreo this era. It’s so cute and engaging. A lot of these like dance challenges feel forced. Not this one.
LET’S SUGAR TALK. If you follow me on Twitter, you know this is one of my favorite songs off this album, and this year. Any meme I see about this song, I’m retweeting it. This is what I’ve been waiting on. This is the true spiritual successor to “Polaroid Love”. Where’s the music video for this song, BELIFT? 🔫 🔫 🔫
Shout out to Tony Ferrari, In Hyeong Kim, Mike Daley, Mot Mal (lalala studios), Patrick “J Quw” Smith, Sweater Beats, Wonderkid, Yubin Hwang, danke, and ugh, Hitman Bang for this banger.
More info on song credits here.
I need to see this song live. It’s so addicting and catchy. See, I love bright Enha songs.
“Hundred Broken Hearts” is a tune. Similar vibe to “Moonstuck”. Slower paced song, but not “Highway 1009” slow. Actually a bit more dancy compared to “Moonstuck”. I feel like All these songs sound similar to each other, that they make sense on the same album. The vibes and themes are consistent, and they match each other well.
I really like the cohesion going on here. These songs aren’t super complex, and I think that adds positively to the easiness of it on your ears. Background music in the best way. Vibe and work on whatever you need to and not have to think about skipping songs or putting on something else entirely. Alright, last track!
My second favorite song on ROMANCE: UNTOLD. On my first listen of ROMANCE: UNTOLD, I was getting ready for work and jammin to it. Then I watched the music videos later on. Much after, I had a few listens in.
I’ll have to add “Brought The Heat Back” to my fave Kpop Halloween music videos list. It’s so funny and entertaining. I love the trope of the members trying to kill each other, ala Red Velvet “Russian Roulette” (my favorite time this has done, I will talk about it every chance I can).
There’s a tweet that was like, no matter how much of a bad day you’re having, Dark Moon/music video Sunoo is having a worse day, lmao. And that continues to be true in this video.
I love when ENHYPEN makes these dancey club tracks. This is another one I must see live to fully experience everything going on in this song. I love that this is getting spill over into other fandoms and more people experiencing this side of Enha. I’m just so impressed musically with this era. It’s so fun and refreshing. It feels like an energy shift for the better. I’m here for it.
This ended up longer than I thought it would be. It was supposed to be a Quick Thoughts, but I just kept coming up with more thoughts, lol. What are y’alls thought on ROMANCE: UNTOLD? Do you like “XO”? Who’s your fave Enha member? Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Next article is all abouTZU 😉.
Take care!
Ash💫
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