All Seven Members Talk About Their ‘Knife’ Remixes

Three days after releasing their seventh mini album, The Sin : Vanish, on Jan. 16, ENHYPEN are back with a remix album that was released earlier today. Actually, make that seven remix albums, each one spearheaded by a member of the septet. You’d think that creating extra work for themselves would be exhausting, but ENHYPEN collectively view it as an artistic opportunity. 

“I actually loved working on my remix album, The Sin : Vanish (Sunoo ver.),” Sunoo tells Rolling Stone over a Zoom chat. “I feel like this was a great way to expand my own engagement in recording, so I loved the experience.” 

At this point, his bandmates nod their approval as they huddle together in a conference room at HYBE’s Seoul office. They are all dressed casually (T-shirts, baseball caps, beanies, and a parka or two), with none of the stage makeup they wear for photo shoots and music videos. Sunoo, Sunghoon, Jay, and Jake sit in the front, with Heeseung, Jungwon, and Ni-ki seated in the back. They are polite, waiting for their turns to talk about their respective remix albums, which all share the same title — The Sin : Vanish, with the parenthetical inclusion of each member’s specific name. 

As the interview continues, they clap and make finger hearts to show their appreciation, and are vocal about looking out for each other. For instance, when Sunoo inadvertently disappears from view, Sunghoon gently pulls him back into the frame. Since their November 2020 debut, ENHYPEN have cultivated a sexy vampire lore. But during this exclusive interview with Rolling Stone, they exude more of a golden retriever-style vibe than that of the sullen undead.

ENHYPEN’s digital remix albums include all 11 tracks from the group’s mini album — six songs, including the lead single “Knife,” plus four theatrical narrations courtesy of professional actors, and a skit — as well as their own remixes of “Knife,” an English version of “Knife,” and individual vocal notes.

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Hailing from a country that doesn’t have a gun culture, ENHYPEN chose a knife as the central image in their lead track — reflecting not only on South Korea’s use of knives as the weapon of choice in K-dramas, but also how a normal knife isn’t strong enough to kill a vampire. The group’s vampire stories run deep, depicting the symbiotic relationship between the seven members and their loyal fandom, ENGENE. Which raises the question, if ENHYPEN are the vampires, how do ENGENE fit in?

“You know how there are always female characters that we include on our albums and trailers?” Sunghoon asks. “We are always mindful of ENGENE as we’re producing our work. So they could be equated to those female characters and could be our friends. Vampire friends.”

Ethnomusicologist Donna Kwon applauds ENHYPEN’s commitment to the vampire lore, which has traditionally been tied to Eastern European culture. “With their ‘Bite Me’ video from 2023, I think they also challenged K-pop conventions a little bit,” Kwon — a professor at the University of Kentucky and the author of Music in Korea: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture — tells Rolling Stone. “The presence or development of lore is one of a number of strategies that a group can employ to gain fans, stand out, and be competitive. For those fans who really like lore, they often link to other members of the fandom to figure out the various meanings and details.”

Asked how many songs ENHYPEN discussed before deciding that “Knife” would be the one they all remixed, Sunghoon says, “It was ‘Knife’ all along. From the beginning, we were all on the same page about that. We just worked on it in our different ways.”

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For instance, group leader Jungwon blended industrial and metal for his remix. “My version is in the nu metal genre,” he says. “We do a lot of live shows, so obviously I had that in mind from the get-go. The original track ‘Knife’ itself has a really punchy sound, but I knew that the band sound goes really well with the hip-hop and trap undercurrent, so I wanted to mix that band sound to make it even punchier.”

“The remix began with Jungwon’s vision for the stage, where he wanted a track that radiates strong, playful energy for live performances,” adds producer Armadillo, who worked with him. “Since artists often perceive music differently from producers, we felt his initial idea was compelling and began shaping the track around that concept. During production, we worked together on the main guitar riff. Jungwon already had a clear idea of the drum patterns in mind. With virtual instruments set up with kick and snare, he performed the drum parts on the master keyboard, producing a rhythm and energy that exceeded expectations. The session felt less like formal production and more like a collaborative jam.”

Meanwhile, Heeseung’s remix has a hypnotic vibe that’s dance-driven, with an echoey backbeat. The vocalist also recorded additional vocals not on the original track.

“I collaborated with Apro, who’s a close friend and producer, on this electronic boom-bap remix,” Heeseung says. “I wanted to work with the BPM so that people can really enjoy it in a laidback, kind of chill manner. I wanted the song to have a catchy charm, so we mixed in a lot of effects, like the dice rolling sound, to give it a dynamic touch. The reason why I did [some new vocals] was because I wanted to stick to bringing out the original charm, while adding a fun and exciting touch. I played the synthesizer myself in some parts. I’m really happy with how it turned out.”

“For the vocals, Heeseung’s input was central to the process,” Apro adds. “We reworked the arrangement around short, repetitive phrases to enhance catchiness, while newly recorded doubling and chorus pad layers were added to increase density and create a richer, more expansive vocal texture.”

Seattle native Jay had a clear vision for his “Knife” remix. That the guitar-driven banger sounds stadium-ready is intentional.

“I made this remix with my really close producer friend, Frants, who I made a lot of my recent music with,” Jay says. “He knows how I work and my style, so the progress was really easy and smooth to get kind of an aggressive metal vibe. I thought it would sound really good when we play this onstage or as an encore somewhere in the States or a country that really loves metal.”

“Jay had a clear vision of the remix’s overall direction from the very beginning, not only sonically, but also in terms of how it would unfold on stage at scale,” Frants says. “Rather than altering the essence of the original track, we focused on amplifying its energy and sense of scale, carefully shaping the sound to align with the powerful imagery and musical direction Jay had envisioned.”

For Korean Australian Jake, tapping into old-school Memphis hip-hop resulted in a song that sounds both retro and fresh.

“I feel like Memphis-style beats are very popular and hot right now,” Jake says. “There are a lot of young artists over in the U.K. and Europe who are making this type of music. I listen to them a lot and feel like it’s going to get loved even more from now on. I’ve always wanted to try making music with this type of beat. I feel like it’s very minimal. There are less sounds and sources in my track, but I feel like that’s the key to these types of beats.”

“While Jake naturally carries a soft, romantic image, he possesses a distinctly grounded core as an artist,” adds Ca$hcow, the producer he collaborated with. “He shows a high level of concentration in the studio and isn’t afraid to strip away anything unnecessary, which gave me the impression that he aims to convey presence and charisma through his music. To best reflect that mindset, we gravitated toward a minimal, loop-driven Memphis hip-hop style built on tension and repetition, which aligns perfectly with Jake’s controlled, understated energy.”

Sunghoon remembers contemplating which direction he wanted to go in before leaning into a vibrant baile funk sound. The former competitive figure skater says he hopes fans will enjoy his version, and shyly adds that it would be fun if his “Knife” remix went viral.  

“I was inspired by Brazilian funk,” Sunghoon says. “If you look at the challenges and the sounds that are really blowing up on TikTok, I noticed that baile funk was really popular as a genre, so I wanted to try it out, too.”

“Before working on this remix together, I had briefly met Sunghoon on another occasion, and he shared the vision he had been developing for a long time,” Armadillo adds. “His main focus was creating music that could be used for short-form content, making it interactive and engaging for fans rather than just a listening experience. As a producer, I found this approach both refreshing and unconventional. He was thinking more about how the music would be used than about the genre itself. Thanks to this clear direction, the track naturally took shape as high-energy baile funk. With the goal so well defined, when we finally met to work together, the main loop track was completed in under two hours. The energy, catchiness, and all the elements of the genre came together in a way that felt incredibly exciting and fun.”

While Sunghoon tackled baile funk, Sunoo opted to record a digi-pop version of “Knife” that’s optimistically upbeat, but with a dramatically tense side that belies the artist’s sunny disposition.

“My producer and I had a lot of conversations about what kind of direction we should go down,” Sunoo says. “The name of the genre officially is glitch pop. It gives a lot of heavy video game vibes, which is something I’ve always wanted to try. It was a great experience and in terms of the storytelling, it’s very powerful. So, I just had a great time, overall.”

“Sunoo’s remix was initiated from his unpredictability and broad emotional spectrum,” says Ca$hcow. “At its core is his bright, uplifting energy, but we felt that his real charm lies in the delicate tension created by the anxiety and sensitivity that coexist within it. To capture that duality, we leaned away from overly polished sounds and instead used fractured textures to add character and edge. Sunoo tends to resonate more with tracks that openly reflect instinct and personal taste, rather than music with a clearly defined formula. With that in mind, we avoided locking the structure into something too rigid and focused on intuitively layering elements we felt he would connect with.”

Youngest member Ni-ki, who hails from Japan, had very specific ideas about how he wanted his remix to sound. His “Knife” starts off fast with vocal effects that give the song an urgent vibe. It’s an energetic and intense boom-bap song intended to get people dancing.

“I’ve been a dancer for a long time, ever since I was a trainee up until now,” Ni-ki says. “And the thing is, we listen to a lot of sped-up boom-bap-type tracks when we warm up before practice. So I did have in mind that I wanted that retro kind of old school hip-hop vibe. There are some fun elements and details that we added, like the glitching sound of the radio when it starts out, which was intentional. I feel like at the end of the day, we have a great track to dance to.”

“For the opening vocals, which feature a fully resampled choir layer, we aimed for an old-school, vintage texture by using cassette-style plugins from Wavesfactory and vinyl-inspired processing with RC-20,” says producer BreadBeat. “While we initially considered both tech house and hip-hop, Ni-ki suggested starting the production in a sped-up format and allowing the genre to take shape naturally. That idea became a key turning point, and his innately heavy, groove-driven energy ultimately led us toward a boom-bap–style remix. As a strong dancer, Ni-ki gravitates toward rhythms with clear groove and momentum, and his input played a big role in shaping the arrangement and dynamics of the sped-up vocals.”

As the interview draws to a close, the group reflect on how much they’ve grown as artists in the past five years. I ask them, if they could go back in time and meet their 10-year-old selves, what would they tell them?

“I’m going to tell little me to fill your heart and be true to your emotions,” Ni-ki says. “Just do what you want to do, or what your heart wishes, and visualize your dream. And one day, you will meet a lot of great older brothers.”

Sunghoon smiles at the group maknae — or youngest member — and says, “I kind of struggled when I did figure skating. I had a tough time because of keeping track of the scores and how well I was doing. I just want to tell him to be confident and don’t obsess over the numbers and scores.”

“I want to tell myself to visualize your future,” Jay says. “What you think and how much you work will become your future, so try your best. You don’t have to be upset with your life path.”

“We had a tour called Fate in the past,” Jake says. “I believe in fate and that everything is done for a reason. So I would tell my younger self to just do what you’ve got to do.”

Jungwon says he doesn’t want to say anything specifically to his child self, except, “Trust yourself and have faith in yourself.”

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Smiling, Sunoo says, “I wish I had exercised more when I was a child, because I think I could’ve gotten taller if I had worked out more, but I didn’t. So I’d like to encourage him to be an athletic kid.”

Heeseung contemplates the question, before answering. “I don’t think I’ll say anything [to him], because my MBTI is a T [thinking] and I’m a logical, rational person. I know that 10-year-old me has to follow the exact same route to get where I am today.”