Song Review:: Enhypen: DESIRE : UNLEASH- Bad Desire (With or Without You)

• Release date: 2025 June 5

• Album tracklist: Flashover, Bad Desire (With or Without You), Outside, Loose (Korean Ver.), Helium, Too Close, Bad Desire (With or Without You), Loose

• Album runtime: 21 minutes

 Eight songs. Twenty-one minutes. I was actually tentatively hoping that HYBE was loosening the reins on the abysmal runtimes they've been making their groups and artists do, but this one clearly dashed those hopes. I doubt this will be the last time I comment on the runtime, but, for now, I do generally like Enhypen's sound and I do look forward to seeing what they have for us each time. I am a touch concerned about their possibly being overworked, but I think things have settled down a little on that front? Doubtful because once groups start getting overworked, it's difficult to get the companies to slow it down. But, the standard remains TS Entertainment. As long as the company is not like them, there's hope.

This very much sounds like an Enhypen song. That bass is strong and very present through the entire song. I'm also getting something of the 90s from this song, but more specifically and a little later, sections of the instrumental remind me a lot of Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble. It took em about ten minutes and hearing a screeching in my head from the meme version to figure out which song that was from the instrumentals. There are points where the instrumental gets heavier, and a point where it gets lighter, but neither really adds a different texture note to the song. 

There are about there songs that I'm reminded of, not including the aforementioned T. Swift one, but one that I just cannot recall the name or artist. Firstly, Nightmare by Jihyo. That beginning practically screams the same vibes, which is delightfully nice for me as that's one of my favorite Halloween/Spooky vibed K-Pop songs I've found. Second, Heaven by Taemin. I haven't been able to be thoroughly pleased like this because I'm hearing ascending scales in a title track for the first time in ages, and it once again becomes an annoyance that the song is only two-and-a-half minutes, less than actually, and would be so perfect for an EDM dance break specifically, and then a bridge. Maybe even an outro. Decadent, I know, but there's enough fullness already that more pieces would enhance the song rather than turn it into a slog.

I'm a little amused that I said it was like Heaven, given the subject matter of the song. And this is where I refer the vibes and visuals music videos to, because it's also proof that even with a short music video you can and should still have a plot. We don't get as much choreography out of it as some people would probably like, but that's why there's a performance video version, so the fans can have their cake and eat it too. Costuming is as always top tier, and honestly, I'm getting similar vibes to Bite Me in the costuming department. Again, as always with this group, they all just look amazing.