Review

Song Review: ENHYPEN – Knife

Posted on by 52 Comments

Musical trends come and go in K-pop and usually mirror sounds popularized elsewhere on the globe. Most of these trends start out well enough before the industry eventually drives them into the ground, but a certain trend of the moment has my hackles up already. An increasing amount of boy groups are latching onto a specific “rage” hip-hop sound popularized by Western artists like Travis Scott and Playboi Carti. I know I’m older than the typical K-pop fan and likely have a different musical background, but if this style takes hold of the industry it will be difficult to give it the kind of chance I’d like to. I simply find the sound repetitive, monotone and very affected.

This brings us to ENHYPEN, who have tried on this style for new single Knife. To be fair, the group has flirted with these sounds before — as early as 2022’s Future Perfect (Pass The Mic) (a song I actually enjoy). However, their music has become shorter and more threadbare with time, downgraded to the two-minute mark and lacking the structural diversity that used to make K-pop interesting. They’ve never been a vocally oriented group, so this move toward heavily processed shout-talk-chant fare makes sense in a way. And, I’m sure there’s some recipe to funnel it into exciting product. However, simply grumbling “Knife knife knife knife” during the chorus is not that recipe.

The thing is, Knife might actually be decent if developed further. Its production has a mechanized rhythm that lurches with intention, casting a stronger groove than I’d expected. Buoy this with a nice melodic centerpiece, ease up on the incessant vocal effects and the result wouldn’t be too dissimilar from what senior groups like EXO made their name on. Sadly, Knife sacrifices drama for swagger, getting by on repetition rather than telling a full story with payoff. It feels designed to clip into twenty-second soundbites for the TikTok generation and probably works best in that context.

Hooks 6
 Production 8
 Longevity 7
 Bias 6
 RATING 6.75

Grade: D+

52 thoughts on “Song Review: ENHYPEN – Knife”

  3. For me, ENHYPEN is at their best when they emphasize vocals and pop/rock/dance-based production. We know they can do trap well (Chaconne my beloved), but the hook is very very lazy. Hoping the b-sides will carry this album (have only played the tt so far)

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    • I feel like what made the Riize song a better effort than this and even FaSHioN is the melodies (which is absent in the other two songs) and even the production was a bit more dynamic and had a sense of angst to it which they again executed it well with the melodies. The other two is just repetitive with less dynamics and borderline shouting and repetitive hooks 🥴

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      • fame has more traditional “kpop” song elements and a very specific sm approach (vocal-focused, melody-driven, harmonies, layers, dynamic/intriguing production) which imo, completely elevates this genre and makes the song more interesting. it’s emotional rollercoaster angsty hip hop which fits their concept. knife and fashion are just… dull to me and one noted. idc for that sound. it’s flexing without real charm or personality.

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  6. Enhypen is at their peak of popularity so why are their releases becoming less interesting and more soulless 😭 I want to love their music but I feel they’re just losing their artistic identity by following lazy trends

    sadly this isn’t my least favorite track on the album 🥀 Lost Island is good though

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  7. We’re definitely seeing a trap / “rage hip-hop” takeover among boygroups, especially since CORTIS’ debut. I’d say RIZZE and LNGSHOT’s attempt worked better because they were anchored in a strong melody and had a more noticeable R&B orientation.

    Meanwhile, CORTIS did their job with the “shock factor” and went all-in with the rage style first. I wouldn’t be surprised if the CORTIS guys were credited on songwriting/production because it just sounds way too similar to them.

    Also, this track could’ve been saved by a stronger hook, but even then, I don’t think this was a smart choice for the main single. In my opinion, ENHYPEN are at their best when doing dance-pop tracks or doing 90s pop throwbacks. Hopefully, the album will have more to offer.

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    • Also is it too much to ask to have a bridge in a title track, BELIFT? We haven’t had one in like what…. THREE YEARS?

      But I guess in this current generation of kpop asking for a bridge would be too big of an ask so I guess there’s no use complaining over and over 😦

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      • The thing is though in a lot of kpop comment sections most people want the song the run time to be longer and complain about the length. If they actually take this into consideration and give songs more than just 2:30 to breathe then things would be better.

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  11. As someone who really fell for Enhypen because of songs like Moonstruck and Fatal Trouble, this feels extraordinarily dull, which is ironic for a song called Knife. 

    And just when it starts showing some interesting elements, it ends. It feels so soulless and incomplete. The song is so painfully obviously made for titok trends at that length. 

    I am a huge fan of Heeseung vocals  and could barely distinguish his voice on this track because of all the modulation and effects.
    I know people will say Pass The Mic exists, but that song actually has some melody and goes somewhere, unlike Knife.
    Could not be more disappointed. I hope the bsides fare better.

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  13. I know the industry won’t stop with this trappy shit soon but you can at least make it good like Fame, like give it some melody ffs, officially their first bad title track for me, my god, not even feeling like giving this a score, won’t even listen to it again

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  14. It feels like a better version of FaSHioN/worse version of Fame tbh, but I don’t mind that song.

    Let’s go with 7.5(7,8,7,8)

    Also WHY TF IS THIS SONG 2 GODDAMN MINUTES LONG!?!? Even Fame was like around the 3 minute mark…

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  16. Personally, I was disappointed with this comeback, to put it frankly. ENHYPEN used to be my ult group, which I started stanning in 2021 during Border: Carnival. I guess this set my bar too high because (imo) that album was groundbreaking, and perfect for a first comeback.

    We got mixed up, Fever, and Drunk-dazed all in one. All 3 of those songs have a really well-built structure with the verses, into a set prechorus, and then the chorus, which is always clearly more energetic than the rest of the song. Same goes for Romance: Untold and Dark blood. And that’s how upbeat pop choruses should be.

    And don’t even get me started on the bridges and dance-break (or whatever its called in the song) they used to be SO GOOD, absolute peak. But since then, they’ve been losing that unique, perfect enhypen sound to more western trends. I would love to see another song with an actual melody rather than chanting. I was disappointed.

    An example of a group who can pull off this concept well is NCT. NCT has always had their own sound, and they know how to do it well. NCT dream recently released beat it up, which has that same whisper-chanting chorus. However, it has a clear separation from verses, prechorus, and chorus, and the prechorus has a real melody and sets the mood- knife doesn’t. (atleast imo)

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  18. In the context of the album, I wish I could understand the spoken track segments better, but this feels less like an album than a potentially engaging story buoyed by some loose musical arrangements to accentuate story moments. With that in mind, the threadbare song development, especially considering scope and sense of building drama is more forgivable, if still disappointing. I put on the album and started to work and was amazed how quickly the album was already finished.

    The song I think could add a super melodic chorus with some real heft and sense of drama and be instantly more interesting. I think the segments this song is built around are really cool for build up, but end up feeling flat without that kind of pay-off.

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  20. uff, I see the comment section got busy with this one. I remember listening to “Fashion”, and thinking of “Pass the Mic”, and now we have come full circle because I listened to this and thought of “Fashion” and “Pass the Mic”🤨. This song is actually worse than the previous two…terrible choice for a group like Enhypen. Makes it look like they don’t know what to do with them, which is embarrassing for a company like Hybe/Belift🤯.

    Not sure why some are comparing it to Riize’ “Fame”, cause that song is actually very GOOD, in my opinion✌🏻

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    • i’m a huge fame defender 🤣 most of us here seem to agree that fame is the best example of what kpop could be doing with this “rage hip hop” genre. we don’t need dull lukewarm beige music – we need energy and dynamics cause that’s what makes kpop so fun. sadly kpop companies do not believe in that.

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  22. Just listened to the album and Long Island is probably the only song on the project that I enjoyed . It was more engaging and I wish it had a bridge or something that could elevate it because it was so good . I was dissappointed when it finished because you are telling me none of the producers saw the vision ?!?!!!!!!!! It’s a shame that I did not understand the interludes in between the songs but still, Im so dissapointed in this release . Like cyberpunk vibes would have suited this release and probably the artictic vision because I am not sure on what was going on .

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      • I tried but the voices were not doing it for me . I felt like as much as I understand what is being said ,the authenticity behind it weren’t there for me to enjoy the narration . I felt like with the original version , I can tell they are telling a story but with the English version it feels like someone is just reading it out for me, like those automated dubbed videos on YouTube.

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  25. I’m warmed to the rage trend now so I think it’s alright, maybe a 7. The instrumental is slick and dark, but the whole thing feels kinda soulless to me. Fashion has a sense of fun and Fame has some pathos and drama.

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  28. Casual reader of Bias List, first time commenter.

    I feel like (almost) a year after they proved their vocal abilities at Coachella by choosing songs that were not heavy with filters and various forms of autotuning, it is sad to hear them turn back to songs with sounds that are so heavily autotuned you can tell they won’t be able to really sing much of the song live, even mixing in live vocals with a backing track. Other songs on the album have that feel, but they will promote Knife instead, which is a letdown.

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  29. I was about to comment something but i’m so thoroughly taken aback by the commenters of a MUSIC BLOG no less crediting the popularity of a rage style hip hop track to cortis and not travis scott’s fe!n sjsjsjdjsn

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