Border: Carnival Review
Border: Carnival (2021)
the 2nd part of my enhypen discography review! this EP contains their first real hit, i remember drunk-dazed being THE song of the summer. 3/7 are still underage at the time of this album's release, so it's still got juvenilia vibes, but they try to project sex appeal on this one anyways. i guess we can just let heeseung hard carry in that regard??
Ranking system:
๐ - it's peak.
๐ - great song that made me feel something. could slot into a playlist.
๐ - would listen to it voluntarily, a few flaws that are either easy to overlook or a bit charming
๐ฅญ - had potential but the finished product is very flawed
๐ - not going to seek it out, but won't outright complain if i hear it.
๐ - it does absolutely nothing for me but isn't offensive
๐ - does absolutely nothing for me and is offensive
๐ - so bad that it almost wraps back around to good just bc i was laffing so much
๐ - special pathetic label for songs that were too pathetic for me to feel good about ranking
๐
- BOOOOOOOO TOMATOES TOMATOES
๐ Intro: The Invitation
Man they really didn't play with these intro/outros huh. Like this shit is as long as some actual kpop songs in 2025. i'm loving the MGMT-esque production here lol. they rly don't need jake to monologue...you can just cut that part, man... i won't even talk about the jay monologue cuz that part's even worsejsgudfnghjh. hehhh...come inside the castle... (???)
๐ Drunk-Dazed
One of the best production jobs in kpop lol. It has this weird distorted 'standing outside of a really crazy club' vibe. I also really appreciate it being fast-paced, I think kpop as a genre suits faster BPMs but they're rarely implemented. The theme is like, teenaged vampires getting high/drunk off of their first taste of human blood(?) which is cute lol. and you totally feel like there are stakes here bc of how the song's structured, it's very dramatic. the fact that it has the little coda at the end...yeah they paid the songwriters GOOD for this one. imagine debuting with given-taken and ur first comeback being THIS, most kpops cannot relate i fear.
๐ฅญ Fever
Well, the obvious problem with this one is the same as Flicker from the previous EP - it's intended as a sexy song, but the vocals are just too...pubescent...for it to actually work. The song itself is a lot better this time, so it's a better listen just off the strength of the melodies. they rly didn't even gaf who they gave the sexual lines to, huh. I'll choose to believe it wasn't intentional. i feel like if they re-record any songs, this one should be at the top of the list, cuz it's pretty good but i just cannot for the life of me get past the obvious disconnect between the song and its performers...
๐ Not For Sale
This song's concept is kinda funny, like "we live in a capitalist hellscape...but YOU made me see past all that..." gfhfghfjh. the song is pretty standard HYBE boy group stuff, not offensive but not particularly remarkable either. there are interesting vocal melodies but since they've been overprocessed you can't actually appreciate them much. there's a lot of barely-competent falsetto going on as well, so maybe all that processing was necessary...but yeah. it's like, fine. serviceable.
๐ฅญ/๐ Mixed Up
Okay so I have two things to say right off the bat - first of all, hate that weak guitar riff. second of all, LOVE that crystal castles iii-esque synth. and the lyrics...literally me after spending five minutes on twitter. "it makes sense, the thirst towards me" dfgbfghhgh love that confidence. I feel like the inclusion of 'natural' instruments here, even if they're just MIDIs, kinda ruins the vibe. not totally sure how this fits into the vampire storyline either, or is this just them doing a meta thing? "suddenly i become the most special person in the world even if i just breathe" fdghjghjgjgh like okay buddy! the bridge actually establishes stakes but then flops by going back into that same chorus.
๐/๐ Outro: The Wormhole
Jake lisping about traveling through different dimensions over a cinematic synthscape. Why do they save some of the most interesting production choices for these intros and outros??? Like I'd want to hear something like this on an actual song and not just a soliloquy!!