The End Of The Hyphenated Title Track Era | ENHYPEN’s ‘MANIFESTO: DAY 1’

Belift Lab’s 7-member boy group ENHYPEN recently made their comeback on July 4th, 2022, with their 3rd Mini Album ‘MANIFESTO: DAY 1’. The tracklist for this album consists of 6 tracks, all of which feature an array of genres and sounds. The tracks are ‘WALK THE LINE’, ‘Future Perfect (Pass The MIC)’, ‘ParadoXXX Invasion’, ‘TFW (That Feeling When)’, ‘SHOUT OUT’, and ‘Foreshadow’.

The interesting part of this album is that the title track, ‘Future Perfect (Pass The MIC)’ is not hyphenated, unlike ENHYPEN’s previous 4 title tracks. Thus making ‘MANIFESTO: DAY 1’ the first ENHYPEN album to not have a hyphenated title track, and the only album so far to not follow the ‘Border’ or ‘Dimension’ titling, which might signify that their next comeback will also share the ‘MANIFESTO’ title as ENHYPEN’s Korean albums have 2 albums per title.

Another difference is that the first and last tracks are not labeled as an Intro and Outro, something that is also evident in the group’s albums. While not including the words Intro or Outro to ‘WALK THE LINE’ and ‘Foreshadow’, the tracks do indeed serve as the introduction and outro to ‘MANIFESTO: DAY 1’, as evident from the addition of English and Japanese phrases alongside the Korean, and the small singing verse near the end.

Starting with the preliminary track ‘WALK THE LINE’; which also shares the same title as the intro to ENHYPEN’s debut mini album ‘Border: Day One’, the track symbolizes the group’s desire to stray away from the line that’s been paved for them and instead carve out their own path.

Getting into the album’s lead single ‘Future Present (Pass The MIC)’, it is a Chicago Drill hip-hop track, which is a relatively unfamiliar scene within the K-Pop industry, quite new in fact. As ENHYPEN’s first title track without a hyphen, the song sets out to redefine their idea of “connection” as they begin to create their own future ahead.

According to ENHYPEN’s leader Jungwon, from an article by Jonathan Hicap, their new album is “about the story of boys where they question the concept of success. Our bold resolutions to live our lives, our own will without being swayed by the world is expressed in different genres of music.” said Jungwon.

The message of the song also has a powerful message behind it. The song conveys the members’ resolve along with the deep and meaningful message of using their power to strengthen the voices of others rather than using it for personal gains.

During my first listen-through of ‘Future Perfect (Pass The MIC)’, I was not completely sold on it. It took a few listen-throughs until I came to terms with it and eventually found myself learning the addictive choreography.

A couple of the lyrics in the song call back to some of ENHYPEN’s previous works. At the beginning of Jay’s first part, his lyric read “I got pushed, pushed. Tteomillyeo wasseo.”

The many fans that have followed ENHYPEN’s journey from the beginning will know that that lyric is from the survival show that formed the now 7-member group, I-LAND, and its signal song ‘Into The I-LAND’. Another fun thing is that in the applicant version of the signal song, Jay is the one to originally sing the line “I got pushed, tteomillyeo wasseo.”

After Jay’s part, NI-KI’s lyric “Kkoripyoneun Given & Tamed” is a shoutout to the group’s previous title tracks ‘Given-Taken’ and ‘Tamed-Dashed’.

“There is a verb tense in English called future perfect, and the song is about how our connection will go further in the promised future, so that’s why it’s called ‘Future Perfect’. The melody and the lyrics are pretty powerful but the title and meaning behind is very hopeful and positive,” said Jungwon.

‘ParadoXXX Invasion’ is the third track in the mini album. It is an old-school hip-hop song that takes a swipe at adults who think teenagers are immature. Out of all the B-Side tracks in ‘MANIFESTO: DAY 1’, ‘ParadoXXX Invasion’ is my favourite.

The next track is the only other song besides the title track that has choreography is ‘TFW (That Feeling When)’. It is a soft, sentimental track about youthful romance and another summer song for 2022. When listening to this song, I had the same feeling as when I first listened to one of ENHYPEN’s earlier songs from ‘Dimension: Answer’, ‘Polaroid Love’. That was also a light, soft song with more bass to it.

‘SHOUT OUT’ is the penultimate song and is an alternative rock song serving as the mini album’s fourth track. Korean-Australian member Jake co-wrote the song’s lyrics, which ENGENEs; ENHYPEN’s fandom, were extremely happy to see. The song serves as a dedication to their fans.

The sixth and final track to wrap up the album is ‘Foreshadow’, a dark and hopeful track serving as the outro. It features narrations in Korean, English, and Japanese, potentially foreshadowing what is to come next with ENHYPEN and this new era of connection that they will embark on.

Overall, I enjoyed this album, and am happy that my favourite boy group made their comeback.

If their album theme follows, we will probably see their next mini album share the ‘MANIFESTO’ titling, same with their eventual next Japanese album as well.

Now, if you don’t mind me, I will be learning the choreography to ‘Future Present (Pass The MIC)’.

04.07.2022