It’s been four months since former ENHYPEN member Heeseung’s infamous and sudden exit. During this time, fans of the popular K-pop group have had much difficulty accepting his departure, even after he redebuted as a soloist earlier this month. It is standard practice for idol groups and their management to ignore fan backlash to events like this as long as they don’t put the members in immediate danger. However, in the last week, not one but two ENHYPEN members have spoken up about the new lineup, and made the message crystal clear: ENHYPEN is six.
What ENHYPEN Said About The Six-Member Group
Jungwon’s 18-minute Weverse Live came on July 8, hours after ENHYPEN performed in Lima, Peru, as part of their Blood Saga World Tour. The 22-year old group leader explained that the situation could no longer go unaddressed. “Since we haven’t spoken firmly about it until now, some felt that we haven’t properly addressed it, and have been talking a lot about the number of members. While I can understand those who loved ENHYPEN back then, ENHYPEN is six members. Yes, ENHYPEN is six members,” he said, per Koreaboo’s translation of the broadcast.
He addressed fan chants specifically, acknowledging that some ENGENEs had continued chanting for seven members at concerts and that the group had not corrected this definitively until now. “honestly, it disrupts our performances a lot. Yes, really, a lot.”
He then drew a firm line, saying that phrases like “ENHYPEN is 7” (a trending hashtag around the time EVAN left), is “telling fans to fight amongst themselves, which nobody wants including the company and the six members.
“So, from now on, I am going to consider those who start disputes about this not to be fans.” He closed by confirming he was speaking on behalf of all six members.
The group’s oldest member Jay had already talked about this in an April livestream, asking fans not to bring up the 6/7 lineups to the other members, especially on their birthdays. On July 12, on stage during their show in Mexico City, he addressed the elephant in the room once again, saying in Spanish, “Nosotros somos seis,” or “We are six”.
This Is A Crucial Time For ENHYPEN
Heeseung’s departure in March was announced by Belift Lab as a mutual decision citing differences in musical direction. Fans interpreted his departure as suspicious, especially since it came two months after ENHYPEN’s seventh mini-album The Sin: Vanish debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 1.65 million copies on its first day.
Within 24 hours of the departure announcement, protest trucks from fans around the world were parked outside HYBE’s Seoul headquarters carrying messages demanding that Belift Lab allow Heeseung to carry on solo activities while being part of the group. Singapore fans sent their own truck with an LED display reading “We stand by you, ENHYPEN is always 7. Love, Singapore ENGENEs.” A now-unavailable Change.org petition surpassed 2 million signatures from 194 countries. This author, along with multiple other journalists, received a steady stream of fan emails demanding an enquiry into Belift for months, including after Heeseung’s solo debut.
Belift Lab reaffirmed on March 15 that despite protests, Heeseung would not be returning.
In a Billboard interview in May, the members addressed the situation collectively for the first time. “Honestly, we’re all working hard with only ENGENEs in mind,” Sunghoon said. “Let’s make even more memories together.” Jake added: “Our next project is crazy, it’s another level. 2026 is going to be a very big year for us.”
Since his departure, ENHYPEN have continued promoting and touring as six. The Blood Saga World Tour kicked off in São Paulo, Brazil on June 4.
Heeseung, now operating under the solo name EVAN, released his debut single “RIDE OR DIE” in June, and is scheduled to perform in August at the Grammy Museum’s Spotlight event in Los Angeles, just a week before ENHYPEN’s The Sin: Bliss, their first release as a six member group.
ENHYPEN Is Not The First K-Pop Group Whose Fans Refused To Accept A Reconfiguration
This has been a persistent and painful recurring dynamic in K-pop.
When EXO’s Chinese members Kris Wu, Luhan and Tao left in quick succession, the fandom split between those who followed the departing members and those who remained loyal to the group (this was of course, before Wu was convicted of rape). The conflict between fans who moved on and “OT12” fans who refused to accept EXO as anything other than its original twelve-member configuration persisted for years.
Jessica Jung’s departure from Girls’ Generation in 2014 (she wrote on Chinese social media that she was “forced out” by the company and the other 8 members) led to a fan schism and extensive public documentation and commentary, with a subset of SONEs still publicly expressing grievances more than a decade later.
2NE1’s disbandment in 2016 was complicated further by the revelation that CL and Minzy were not informed of the decision in advance. In a 2021 interview, CL told the Associated Press that she found out when her phone blew up at Thanksgiving.
More recently, RIIZE’s Seunghan rejoined the group in October 2024 only to withdraw two days later following a coordinated fan backlash campaign due to previous personal controversies; fans wielded enough collective pressure to reverse a management decision within 48 hours.
What each of these cases has in common is the difficulty of separating institutional loyalty from personal attachment. Fans who fell in love with a specific configuration of people, like with ENHYPEN, find the reconfiguration of that group to be not just a logistical change but a personal loss. While there are parallel situations in other music industries (thousands remember exactly where they were when they heard Zayn left One Direction), K-pop’s oft-transient nature has just meant that fans have had to contend with this more and more.
