Enhypen’s Heeseung vs. Just Heeseung

Genuinely, I was floored. It had to be a joke. There was no way that the center, the main vocalist, the literal ace had just left all of a sudden like that. He was my bias too! I was convinced that people were indeed joking until I searched his name up on Google, and lo and behold, it was true.

I don’t know what to think. To be honest, I have been in a daze for the past little while. It is a huge privilege for me to be sitting here, with all the comfort of a Western middle-class life, and realizing that a K-Pop idol leaving his group is one of my biggest worries. It is sobering to notice that. If you are noticing the same thing about your own life, it is important that we acknowledge that fact. If we think about the genocide going on in Gaza and the countless families that were affected in the school bombing in Iran, everything else becomes irrelevant real quick.

But if we do allow ourselves to analyze the Heeseung situation a bit – and trust me, there have been so many takes across the Internet – it was so out of the blue that it is understandable why fans are upset the way they are. I could’ve never imagined him leaving. The timing was terrible. What do you mean he’d just been talking about going on tour with the other members? And now, he’s out? Forever? What?

This isn’t the first time my bias has left (or been kicked from) the group. My opinion (which I have seen many others share) is that Heeseung eventually wanted to leave the group to maybe focus on his solo career, but for whatever reason, the timeline was screwed over and everything was rushed. However, this brings up the argument that why couldn’t he have just promoted solo while remaining in Enhypen? Maybe he didn’t want to leave like this. Maybe he did. It’s the timing that sucks and it doesn’t make any sense. Why would he leave when so many tours are coming up, tours that he specifically mentioned he wants to take part in? It doesn’t make any sense. Maybe something happened which made him make such a choice.

Who knows.

I think the most frustrating part of most K-Pop issues is that we’ll never know the full truth. It makes backlash so much worse and worsens the misinformation that floats around the fandom.

Really though, it’s normal to be sad. I wasn’t the greatest Enhypen fan out there, but I remember I-land airing during lockdown. I remember seeing the scene where the members got picked, and it was a big deal. The isolation factor during that time made such events more impactful than they were. I’m sorry that I took them and their music for granted at times, not realizing that the current configuration of the group wouldn’t last forever. I’m sorry that I didn’t clue into their Coachella performance more, when “who is the red-haired guy?” was going around. I think looking at Enhypen (for me) will be really nostalgic now.

This isn’t the first time I’ve lost a bias in a group. For heaven’s sake, T***l used to be my bias in 127 (HE NO LONGER IS, THANK YOU)! That was much, much worse than this. Remember when Soojin was kicked out of idle? Yes, she was (is) my bias too.

I’m thankful that he’s chosen to remain in the industry and keep making music. And though it will suck to see only six on the stage, I hope we can keep supporting them into the future. I hope when Heeseung’s solo work eventually comes out, it gets a lot of success, and that it’s the best music I’ve ever heard in my entire life. Just kidding. But I really do hope that it’s meaningful to him.

Hopefully, everybody stays safe and this path does go on to provide some stability in the future.