ENHYPEN’s “spin-off” single I Want You isn’t scheduled for release until November 20th, but they’ve premiered the music video early. I’m not sure why this choice was made, as it seems to put their promotion on a collision course with the upcoming comeback from their HYBE peers TXT, but for better or worse we have the new song today.

It’s been a rocky year for ENHYPEN and I haven’t found their recent work exciting enough to distract from their reconfiguration as a six-piece group. For a few years now, they’ve been one of HYBE’s “less is more” artists: less runtime, less sonic invention, less unrestrained singing. As with so many “hits” of the streaming era, their music feels designed for a quick addition to a vibes-focused playlist without enough meat on the bone to warrant further examination or obsession. I Want You is emblematic of this approach. It’s about as vanilla as one could imagine — a near intangible series of whispy, barely-there refrains. There is no real narrative progression, just vibes through and through.

On a cursory listen, it’s difficult to distinguish verse from chorus, as everything fades into the same hazy energy. Further listens fail to pull out any compelling details. The melodies are nice but repetitive and the song isn’t structured in a way that fashions them into a satisfying arc. Instead, we simply cycle back and forth between segments in a rote way. It makes me want to kick the song into gear and send it heading in a discernable direction. Any direction would be fine, and preferable to the frustrating flatline I Want You seems to prefer.

Grade: C-