ENHYPEN Captures Hearts with Viral “Polaroid Love” Challenge
Over the last two years, the impact of social media in sharing art, culture, and music during the pandemic has been unrivaled. As a group that debuted amid the pandemic, ENHYPEN knows this well. The fourth-generation K-pop group just released their first repackage album, DIMENSION : ANSWER, on January 10 with the title track “Blessed-Cursed” and an additional two songs to share with fans. Although all the songs on the album are beloved, the song “Polaroid Love” has shown the true power of the internet and wriggled its way into listeners’ hearts on its road to virality.
The seven members of ENHYPEN–Jungwon, Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, and Ni-ki–came together under Belift Lab after the ever-popular survival show I-LAND. Since their debut in late 2020, the group has secured several accolades, including their most recent Bonsang and Best Performance Award at the Seoul Music Awards. Now, the group has one full studio album, two mini-albums, and this most recent repackaged album under their belt.
“Polaroid Love” Races to the Top
With their debut during the pandemic, technology has been more important than ever in helping ENHYPEN share their music and message with their fans, ENGENEs. Through a number of avenues, such as their TikTok, YouTube, and V-Live content, ENHYPEN have found their own way to stay connected with fans. Their latest release, DIMENSION : ANSWER, shows the outcome of their effort with its debut at number three on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart. In addition, the song “Polaroid Love” has also had its share of success. Just as “Polaroid Love” has the members’ “heart[s] racing,” the song has affected listeners’ hearts, soaring to almost 10.5 million Spotify streams to date. It has also reached a peak at number 32 on Gaon Download Chart.
TikTok has taken the front seat in the song’s explosion. With the sheer number of TikToks that have been created using the song, the most prominent accompaniment to the track responsible for this spiral is the #PolaroidLoveChallenge. Created by Reiner Acuario, a popular TikTok content creator in the K-pop space, the challenge features an adorable dance, with cute heartbeat motions and little side steps fitting for the romantic tune. Reiner’s original choreography video has surpassed 5 million views and 800,000 likes in a little over two weeks of posting. Aside from the challenge, the song has been used on TikTok in 157.1K videos to date.
Idols and Fans Take Part in the Challenge
The far-reach of the challenge came as a surprise to Acuario, who expressed his shock and amazement through a series of videos on his TikTok. Little did he know when creating the dance that he would be connecting the world through his choreography and even have the members of ENHYPEN dancing along. Thus far, Jake, Jungwon, and Sunghoon have all participated in the fan-made challenge.
That’s not the end, however. A large number of celebrities have also participated in the dance challenge. To name a few, Seventeen’s The8, Joshua, Jeonghan, and Jun, IVE’s Yujin, Kep1er’s Yeseo, Chaehyun, and Xiaoting, P1Harmony’s Keeho, Theo, Intak, and Jiung, and NCT 127’s Taeyong all have fan call clips floating around with them dancing to the song.
Fans on Twitter have also expressed their love for the song through warm praises and edits of their respective biases.
High Hopes for the New Year
This virality isn’t unfamiliar to ENHYPEN. Previously, their songs “FEVER” and “Drunk-Dazed” have also gone viral on TikTok. This is a testament to the group’s melodious discography that has captured the hearts of people all around the world, all through a digital screen. As the number of TikToks and song plays grow in number every day, the new year is looking bright for ENHYPEN.
You can listen to “Polaroid Love” and the rest of DIMENSION : ANSWER on Apple Music and Spotify.
For more ENHYPEN content, check out our piece on “Blessed-Cursed” here!
