{"id":4417,"date":"2026-01-18T14:06:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T05:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/?p=4417"},"modified":"2026-01-18T14:10:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T05:10:46","slug":"enhypen-achieves-grand-prize-by-2025-goal-concludes-chapter-1-on-a-happy-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/?p=4417","title":{"rendered":"ENHYPEN Achieves &#8216;Grand Prize by 2025&#8217; Goal, Concludes Chapter 1 on a Happy Note"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ENHYPEN\" height=\"367\" src=\"https:\/\/image.xportsnews.com\/contents\/images\/upload\/article\/2026\/0118\/1768698194334338.jpg\" width=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p>K-pop group ENHYPEN has achieved their long-held goal of winning a grand prize by 2025 and kicked off their first comeback of the new year. After closing &#8216;Chapter 1&#8217; with a happy ending, the group adopted a strategic approach to open &#8216;Chapter 2,&#8217; enabling fans to &#8220;imagine a new ENHYPEN.&#8221; This expanded new chapter for ENHYPEN is raising expectations for the group&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, ENHYPEN (Jungwon, Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Ni-ki) achieved their first triple-million seller with their second full album &#8216;ROMANCE : UNTOLD&#8217; and their third double-million seller with the mini 6th album &#8216;DESIRE UNLEASH.&#8217; They performed at the U.S.&#8217;s largest music festival, Coachella, and secured three grand prize trophies at music awards, including the &#8216;FANS&#8217; CHOICE OF THE YEAR&#8217; at the MAMA Awards.<\/p>\n<p>Continuing their momentum, they kicked off the new year on the 16th with the mini 7th album &#8216;THE SIN : VANISH.&#8217; This album, which initiates the new &#8216;THE SIN&#8217; series with a sin motif, is a concept album featuring six tracks, four narrations, and one skit, including the title track &#8216;Knife.&#8217; All tracks, lyrics, and sounds are interconnected, showcasing a high level of completion that members expressed satisfaction and confidence in.<\/p>\n<p>Heeseung explained the unique scale of the album, released after their Grand Prize wins. &#8221;We were grateful to receive three grand prizes last year,&#8221; he said, &#8221;and we believed it was fitting to showcase an even more mature image, suitable for our experience in the industry. We hope fans notice this aspect in our comeback, featuring a more mature performance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ENHYPEN\" height=\"367\" src=\"https:\/\/image.xportsnews.com\/contents\/images\/upload\/article\/2026\/0118\/1768698220087136.jpg\" width=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p>ENHYPEN revealed that since their 2020 debut, their goal has been to win a grand prize by 2025. Sunghoon explained, &#8221;While we didn&#8217;t expect to win a grand prize last year, our target year was 2025, and we felt we should have achieved a certain level by then.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on their journey to become &#8216;grand prize artists,&#8217; the members discussed their determination for 2026. Jay shared, &#8221;Not only us but the entire company pursued a grand prize by 2025 since before our debut. We considered this period &#8216;ENHYPEN&#8217;s Chapter 1,&#8221; he said. &#8221;Achieving our ultimate goal of winning a grand prize allowed one chapter to end happily.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jay noted, however, that &#8221;whether we achieved it or not, that was the end of the first chapter.&#8221; He stated, &#8221;To start the second chapter, the company and we prepared an album to prove &#8216;we have become newer and greater artists&#8217; even before winning the grand prize.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>They chose a &#8216;concept album&#8217; format to dive deeper into their strengths in storytelling and concepts. Jay added, &#8221;We prepared this album to help fans imagine a new ENHYPEN,&#8221; and firmly believes that &#8221;it will brilliantly open Chapter 2.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/image.xportsnews.com\/contents\/images\/upload\/article\/2026\/0118\/1768698237804589.jpg\" width=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ni-ki commented, &#8221;Winning the grand prize was a major turning point,&#8221; reflecting on ENHYPEN&#8217;s numerous challenges in 2025, including their performance on the main stage at Coachella in the United States. &#8221;Our ENGENE (fanbase) made the &#8216;FANS&#8217; CHOICE OF THE YEAR&#8217; grand prize possible, and we believe the only way to repay them is through performances. We are determined to deliver a remarkable performance worthy of such a significant award,&#8221; Ni-ki added.<\/p>\n<p>Ni-ki also emphasized his satisfaction with the album, stating: &#8221;Every track is fantastic. It&#8217;s so good that I wonder if an album like this will come out again. The choreography, music videos, and content are all satisfying, and we are confident in them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With an album that fills them with pride, ENHYPEN looks forward to setting new goals for Chapter 2. Jake commented, &#8221;I think this album is packed,&#8221; and added, &#8221;We may not have specific goals, but our standards for ourselves have risen, and we plan to continue releasing albums and performing accordingly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jungwon expressed aspirations for chart success: &#8221;It would be great to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and chart on the Hot 100. I desire to gain attention for our music.&#8221; He also shared his wish to &#8221;meet our ENGENEs in places we&#8217;ve never visited, like South America, and showcase our performances.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Image source: BELIFT LAB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>K-pop group ENHYPEN has achieved their long-held goal of winning a grand prize by 2025 and kicked off their first comeback of the new year. After closing &#8216;Chapter 1&#8217; with a happy ending, the group adopted a strategic approach to open &#8216;Chapter 2,&#8217; enabling fans to &#8220;imagine a new ENHYPEN.&#8221; This expanded new chapter for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[632,311,760],"class_list":{"0":"post-4417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kpop-news","8":"tag-album-release","9":"tag-k-pop","10":"tag-music-awards"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-159.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4419,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4417\/revisions\/4419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}