ENHYPEN's album vampire narrative is unfolding vividly in real life, drawing attention. A website that covers vampire news has become very popular, and blood donation campaigns have been activated, producing several positive effects.
ENHYPEN's recently released mini album 7 "THE SIN : VANISH" tells the story of lovers who break taboos and choose to run away together in a society where humans and vampires coexist. The album, whose narratives·lyrics·sound are intricately connected, surpassed 2.07 million copies in first-week sales (according to Hanteo Chart), joining the ranks of "double million sellers" for initial sales.
The power of immersive storytelling worked. In particular, this album shows their evolution by expanding music beyond "listening content" into a multi-layered mega IP built on a unique narrative. Analysts say ENHYPEN's experimental challenge, which blurred the boundaries between reality and fantasy, music and narrative, suggests a new direction for K-pop.
Before ENHYPEN's comeback, a mysterious news website called "Vampire Now" spread by word of mouth among netizens. The site, quietly launched without much promotion, covered incidents and accidents in vampire society, lifestyle, fashion, and health information like entertaining articles, sparking a lot of curiosity.
On the day the website opened on the 17th of last month, more than 100,000 people accessed it, and the cumulative number of visitors has reached 500,000 (as of Jan. 22). The SNS accounts that posted the website articles as card news and short-form videos also drew attention. The total views of content uploaded to those channels during the same period approached 20 million.
The website was directly mentioned in the skit (SKIT·dramatic sketch) track "the voice we were looking for" included on the album, revealing that the site interacts as one axis of the album's narrative. As one of the promotional channels, it effectively supported the grand narrative ENHYPEN built.
ENHYPEN's blood donation campaign, conducted in partnership with the Korean Red Cross, is also impressive. Donors receive souvenirs prepared by the members; on the campaign's first day (the 16th), a total of 406 people flocked to three "House of Blood Donation" locations (Gangnam Station·Sinchon·Seongsu Center). The Korean Red Cross said this was a 267% increase compared with the average daily number of donors (Jan. 2–15) and the highest number of blood donation participants since each center opened.
Also, the number of first-time donors during the tally period (Jan. 16–20) increased 19.6 times compared with the same period the previous week. The number of first-time donors, which had been only 30, expanded to 588. ENHYPEN's good influence, which sought to expand the album's "vampire" motif into practicing the value of sharing, led to participation from ENGENE (the fandom name).
Global ENGENE also had opportunities to fully immerse themselves in THE SIN : VANISH's narrative. Chapter video screening events "VAMPIRE IS COMING" for THE SIN : VANISH will be held in Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo on Jan. 30–31 and Feb. 14, respectively. ENHYPEN plans to have deep conversations with fans there and strengthen their close ties once again. Global fans' attention is focused on the group's differentiated moves that cross album and reality.
[Photo] Belift Lab Inc.
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