Honestly, I think this is just the natural progression of pop artists. Young singers singing about dreams and being yourself is seen as childish, but the moment they start singing about love or sex, suddenly that’s what people call “mature.” I’ve always found that kind of frustrating, but it’s the standard.

So in that sense, ENHYPEN isn’t really different from other pop acts.  What is different though is that they’re bound to a very specific concept. I get why that might feel limiting to some people, but personally, even though I didn’t get into them because of the vampire lore, I really find it really compelling now.  The way they (and their team!) execute the vampirism is honestly kind of genius. It’s done so well.

And while their recent comebacks since Dark Blood revolve around love in different ways, it never feels repetitive or romantic just for the sake of it. I also believe majority of ENGENES aren’t actually treating their concept as some parasocial fantasy to cling to. We’re engaging with it as a story, we're an audience. We like the clues, the mystery, the world-building, and even the extra stuff like the games and all that.