ENHYPEN returns as 6 with music inspired by Brazilian funk

K-pop boy band ENHYPEN said Thursday it kept its attention on the music rather than its reduced lineup, a day before releasing its first album as a six-member group.

The Belift Lab act drops its eighth mini album, "THE SIN : BLISS," on Friday, led by the Brazilian funk title track "Bloody Paradise."

Jungwon, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-ki met members of the press at a hotel in Seoul's Yongsan District in the group's first media conference since it began promoting as a sextet, following Heeseung's departure in March.

"This is our first album as six," Jungwon said. "We always think about the finished work. Rather than the number of members, we focused on how to make the result better, on how the recording sounds and how the performance looks."

"We had a show in Australia two or three days after the lineup change," he added. "Fans judge us by what they see on stage, so all we thought about was being professional and putting on a good performance. Whenever we talked about the new album and the result, all we had in mind was our fans."

Jay was less measured about where he ranks it.

"We prepared this album while juggling a lot of schedules," he said. "I'd call it the best album of ENHYPEN's career."

The record picks up where January's "THE SIN : VANISH" left off, tracking two lovers who broke a taboo and ran, and who come to accept the escape itself as "bliss." Its 10 tracks are built to be heard in order, with narration threaded between the songs, giving the album the pull of a vampire documentary told across a single sitting.

"Bloody Paradise," sixth on the track list, casts the couple's cornered romance as a paradise, setting sharp, drilled choreography over a raw Brazilian funk beat.

"Even in a crisis, even while running, if the person you love is beside you, wherever you are is paradise," Sunoo said. "The melody is good, and it's addictive."

Sunghoon, who worked with the genre on his solo remix of "Knife," reached for food to explain the appeal.

"Tteokbokki is something you can pick up anywhere. It's sweet, salty, intense," he said. "[The song] feels like tteokbokki you eat at a fancy restaurant. If you keep that in mind, you'll enjoy it more."

The group premiered the song live on Aug. 8 and 9 at Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan, on the domestic leg of its "BLOOD SAGA" world tour.

"The song hadn't come out yet, but people cheered for it and sang along, which surprised me," Jake said. "We got a lot of strength from that going into the comeback."

Jungwon said the touring year had fed directly into the album.

"Our group has been of the same mind the whole time we've been active. In any situation, the performance comes first," he said. "Starting with the Seoul concert in May, then North and South America, then Busan, we got a lot of energy. At the concerts we confirmed that ENGENE and we are of the same mind, and we prepared for our comeback on that energy."

ENHYPEN played Latin America for the first time this year and made its debut appearance at Comic-Con in San Diego.

"After a few good months, I'm looking forward to tomorrow," Jake said. "Finishing 2026 well is the goal, and because this is an album by six of us, I feel more confident and more excited."

A Japan dome tour is also scheduled.

"Performing in front of more ENGENE, in bigger places, is our dream," Jake said, referring to the name of the group's official fandom. "There are still a lot of places in the world we haven't been. If ENGENE are there, we want to go."