“I don’t think I’ve earned the right to be called HEE-roducer yet,” ENHYPEN member HEESEUNG says, noting how long it took for “Highway 1009,” the first song he’s ever produced, to come out. But throughout the interview, he spoke in tones both serious and excited as he talked about his music with a blend of impartial objectivity and some resolute personal views. Here’s the prologue—episode zero—of HEE-roducer, in the idol’s own words.
2024 Weverse Con Festival
HEESEUNG: Was the sound good at Weverse Park? (Yes.) Oh, really? I’m a big fan of jazz festivals and watch videos of them a lot, so I’ve always dreamed of performing at an outdoor stage or a festival. That’s why I paid extra attention to working on my ad-libbing and other things the fans would enjoy. That tribute performance was the first time I performed on stage without the other members, just singing alone, so it was all quite new to me. It was also my first time not dancing and just being able to watch the audience listen along as I sang, and to be honest, I felt a little self-conscious with everyone cheering as soon as I went up the steps, but it was nice, too. I saw people saying nice things and was also told that they didn’t realize the guy who performed “Behind You” was the same guy that’s in ENHYPEN, which really is a high praise. The very first thing I do when I set out to perform a song is to get a good grasp of the song’s vibe, and people picked up on that. That’s exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to get.
Covering “this is what falling in love feels like”
HEESEUNG: Personally, I don’t try to strike pose after pose when I’m onstage, but for covering songs like JVKE’s, I think you have to consider all the different conceptual sides to it. It’s really a form of acting. I imagined someone with a deep passion for jazz and visualized how they’d approach being onstage. Then I tried planning it all out from start to finish. JVKE sings the verses in a really calm voice like he’s telling a story in the original, whereas my version gets into an exciting rhythm right from the first verse. The original hits a kind of dynamic climax as it moves into the hook, but I wanted to build it up like a slow jam, giving the song an entirely different mood and casting it in a different light altogether. I contributed a lot of ideas towards that.
Director HEE-roducer appears!
HEESEUNG: “Bite Me,” the single off DARK BLOOD, has a rap part in it, but we didn’t have any ideas for it. I suggested to the producers that maybe I could just feel it out and try something myself and I ended up helping out the other members. But I don’t think I’m better than the others or anything. That’s not why I direct. It’s really about how we’ve all got our own specialties and if we use them to record the songs, then the listeners will enjoy listening to them more and they can listen for the vocals they like best. The whole reason I poured so much time into directing is that I wanted the members to be able to put all their feelings into it, and because I really wanted us to be able to put out the best album we could. I was just helping out any way I could.
HEE-roducer’s guiding principles
HEESEUNG: I don’t really like it when everyone in the group’s doing the exact same thing. It doesn’t really make sense to me… but other producers might feel a little differently. Most producers want the same rhythm and the same polish from everyone since it’s the same song, but in my case, I think it’s actually better to highlight each person’s strengths and unique traits. So my approach is to first listen to the other members do their thing, then look for parts where I think, ‘This sounds good, but we could tweak this one thing to make it work a little better with the music.’
Everyone in ENHYPEN has his own strengths
HEESEUNG: I think JUNGWON has really unique vocals. No matter how much mixing you do, someone with a really distinct vocal tone just cuts right through, and that’s JUNGWON. Then there’s JAY, who knows exactly what kind of music he likes and what kind of style he’s after—the thing he’s looking for. That sense of individuality—I like that about him. JAKE… growing up overseas gives him an edge, honestly. (laughs) His English pronunciation just naturally spills over into his Korean, and it sounds amazing. SUNGHOON just has a fundamentally good voice, so he fits in no matter what he’s singing. For SUNOO, I think his voice is naturally suited for ballads, but there’s something special about a singer with such a gentle voice performing a song with big moments or a fast tempo. NI-KI, I hope, will rap more, personally. You really have to be born with the right voice to be good at rapping, and with NI-KI’s deep voice? I mean, come on!
Inside the recording studio with HEE-roducer
HEESEUNG: Honestly, I still don’t see myself as HEE-roducer. (laughs) But I have been directing myself for quite a while now. (laughs) I think that started right before DARK BLOOD. As you know, the label sends us the songs to practice before we head into the recording studio, but still, I try not to listen to them too much before going into the recording booth. Listening and practicing outside the studio can make it hard to assess yourself objectively. I mean, you can go in having put in enough practice for your vocalization techniques, but being there in the studio and being able to listen there and play back the recording makes it sound a lot different, so if I go in with every little thing already planned out, I’ve found it doesn’t quite live up. That’s why I prefer to go into the studio, listen to the song, immediately feel out the genre and mood on the spot, and only then start recording.
Is HEE-roducer stubborn?
HEESEUNG: I’m super stubborn. (laughs) When the producers and I differ in our opinions, I just play them my version of the vocals and try to persuade them with that. It’s one thing to do something original, but at the end of the day, you really just have to do a good job. I need to nail down the recording according to my vision, enough so that the producers go, “Oh, that’s great,” and they’re sold. That’s why I always have to be confident and have conviction in what I do. That way, the producers naturally come around to my way of seeing things.
ROMANCE: UNTOLD
HEESEUNG: I really couldn’t wait to let ENGENE hear the single “XO (Only If You Say Yes).” (laughs) I think the part that carries the song’s message is exactly the part that was used in the ROMANCE : UNTOLD Promotion Calendar, and I was thrilled we got to share that part with them early. I feel like now, with this album, ENHYPEN’s truly getting to the point where we can give the world great music. When I heard them, I could tell every track off the album, not just “XO,” were all equally high quality, profound tracks. So I’m feeling super confident right now.
HEE-roducer’s taste in music
HEESEUNG: I used to be the kind of person who always listens to the exact same music, but these days, I like listening to a wider variety of songs. And when I sing a song, I like to do it where I express each one in a different way. Our new album’s made up entirely of pop songs, so I checked out every song on Billboard while working on it. My favorite track off the album is “Hundred Broken Hearts” because… I guess I just love it. It’s the kind of song where, when I went to check out the highlights, I immediately went, Wow. I ended up recording all the lines in just 15 minutes or so. I just loved it. The producers were like, “HEESEUNG, this is insane,” and I felt the same way. It was pretty exhilarating to know I could pull off this kind of song now.
Behind the scenes on the word “dammit”
HEESEUNG: There’s the word “dammit” in the second verse of “Brought The Heat Back.” It’s not a word I use much in real life and even less when singing. You don’t usually hear words like that when you listen to songs, so it wasn’t easy to make it sound natural. I tried out a bunch of other weird ones to see what might work there. That was one of the parts I had to record over and over.
The story behind “Highway 1009”
HEESEUNG: When we were working on the album’s tracklist, I thought, “This is it—this is my chance,” so I made a demo with a friend of mine and played it for the label. When they heard it, they were blown away. It took us, like, maybe three hours to make the song, all in? When I’m making a song, I work on the vibe, the roots, and the melody all at the same time. What you hear is purely my own thoughts and feelings, plucked straight from my head. Making a song doesn’t really take all that long, but finding one I was satisfied with took forever. For me, the music has to sound good the first time you hear it. I feel like you have to feel something as soon as you hear it, whether it’s pain, or joy, or whatever. Even if I’m like, this melody’s perfect, if it doesn’t make me feel anything, it doesn’t matter how well it’s written—I won’t use it. I actually had the rough lyrics and a working title already, but it was just lucky it was chosen to be a fan dedication song. I thought we could convey our feelings better to our fans if everyone’s point of view was included, so the other members ended up contributing lyrics, too. When I look at all the lyrics together, not only does it express how ENGENE helps us to push through “when I’m sick and tired,” but we subconsciously convey how us group members help each other, too. I hope ENGENE listens to the song and picks up what we wanted to say, and that they can clear their mind, even if just for a moment, and feel good.
The joy of writing songs
HEESEUNG: I don’t think I’ve earned the right to be called HEE-roducer yet. I think a true musician is someone who can give people their own music and be loved for that in return, and I feel sorry for ENGENE that it took this long. But it’s because I put in a lot of effort to make it sound good, and it was a really fun and enjoyable experience. This is the first time the fans and listeners in general will hear something I made, and I’m really thrilled about it. I can’t wait.
HEE-roducer, EP.1
HEESEUNG: These days, I’m always writing more and more songs based on how I’m feeling, the music I like, and wherever my heart takes me. And I think I should be able to put something out later this year. I don’t know whether that’s going to be in the form of an album, a mixtape, or what, but I hope to share more about them once they’re out. I’d appreciate it if you wait to call me HEE-roducer until then. (laughs)