ENHYPEN are at an inflection point in their career, having lost member Heeseung earlier in the year as he opted for a solo career. The Sin: Bliss is their first album after this restructuring and is led by title track Bloody Paradise. To be honest, I haven’t been excited about ENHYPEN’s music in years, but I’m always curious to see what moves a group makes after the departure of a key member.
As it turns out, ENHYPEN have (mostly) opted for business as usual with Bloody Paradise. Its biggest evolution is the addition of Brazilian phonk, but can we really call that an evolution when every group and their mother have already been draining it dry in K-pop? It’s nice to hear something with a little more bounce to it since ENHYPEN’s past few title tracks have alternated between mopey and weirdly confrontational, but there’s nothing here that we haven’t heard a million times before in the past few years. The truncated melodies are ultra-familiar, the chorus is repetitive and flat and the just-over-two-minute runtime doesn’t allow for any real development (not that the song is interested in that).
My personal favorite element running through Bloody Paradise is the squiggly brass that accents the pre-chorus and chorus. It’s just nice to hear something that sticks out since everything else is so middle-of-the-road. I’m trying to imagine how different my response to the song might be had we never heard this sound before in K-pop, but unfortunately the industry no longer allows for a sense of wonder with its insistence on overusing the same sample packs and gaggle of corporation-driven song camp writers. What you end up with may be serviceable, but does nothing to advance the artist, the scene or the audience.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
Grade: C-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
And there goes the streak of a kpop group releasing a banger on my birthday since 2023 💔 and to let you all know how bad it is, YOUNG POSSE of all groups released their only banger on this day 2 years ago that is the fantastic “Ate That” 💔
Now if you’ll excuse me, I will now cherish the best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten by jorking it to a shirtless Sungchan in the Memories MV— err, I mean, streaming Memories 💔 I’m just a woman of culture, you know 💔
Anyways, 7.25 (7, 8, 7, 7) for me 💔 a cunty baile funk production wasted by horrible tinny mixing, lack of development and repetitive, monotonous hooks that verge into annoying 💔
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I mean the streak was ruined a while back 😂. Knife remains their worst release for me. This was..fine. Elevated by the performance but song itself studio recording and MV wise falls flat.
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No no, I meant that since 2023, a kpop group has delivered a banger at least once on August 21st, like in 2023 it was Riize with Memories, 2024 gave us Young Posse’s Ate That and then last year we got 8TURN with Electric Heart, so yeah, it lowkey became a tradition for me to expect a banger on my birthday lol 😭
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Happy birthday btw!
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nooo 😦 im hooked with this song rly, and the checkmate omg kinda hidden gem in this album so catchy af. these 2 songs literally my workout songs no doubt!!
maybe can you give us ur verdict for two fools and bad for you? i think you gonna like those songs.
imo love this album from them so far 9/10 from me
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I actually think there’s a good song here. I like both the melodies and the instrumental, but the whole treatment is so dark and dire. Re-imagined as a bright song by like, Rita Ora or something, and this would be a fun summer bop.
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Eh… This sounds like pure 5th gen, gen alpha slop to me. Very tiktok take on Brazilian funk.
6/10
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same criticisms as usual (HYBE refuses to let the two-minute shit go) but I like it.
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It is good but not that good plus 2:14 duration is not it too short?
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This song is a nothing burger imo, but it’s the only skip on the album too! The rest of the album is super strong and cohesive, definitely their strongest in years. Two Fools, Bad For You, and Highlight are all fantastic songs, and Stuck and Checkmate both have their charms as well. It’s a shame the worst song on the album was chosen as the title
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With only barely over 2 min long song, there is nothing to enjoy here aside from the bouncy beat and the brazillian elements. Sure the instrumentals is nice and the energy is decent, but the hook was overplayed and the talk-chanting is obnoxious. Its like the song came and went without story or meaning. I am not sure that this is the right song to show their worth after losing a member. My favorite track in the album is Checkmate, still less than 2.30 min long but a tad more interesting than Bloody Paradise.
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You slept on with or without you!
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I really enjoyed their track “Big Girls Don’t Cry” earlier this year. I wish they would continue in that direction and become as Jamaican as humanly possible.
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Also, 7 is too high for this song.
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I see HYBE is still planning on giving all their groups the same title tracks again… Anyways, if this song had Hootie Frutti’s level of production, and Hootie Frutti had this level of vocals/lyrics, HYBE would actually have two pretty decent Brazilian phonk (?) songs! It’s not bad, though I think hearing Hootie Frutti incessantly for the past week has set the bar for K-pop (and K-pop adjacent) interpretations of phonk very low. Also BARELY TWO MINUTES????
6.5/10 for me, maybe it’ll grow with enough listens
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im someone who thinks baile funk in kpop has the potential to be good, but a lot of the songs waste those beats on some lame hooks (*cough cough* like jennie *cough cough* bad)
i wonder if the stuff from brazil is any different
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Judging by NMIXX’s collaborations with Pablo Vittar (a Brazilian drag artist), Tic Tic and MEXE, I fear not
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