If you are not someone who follows k-pop, or are simply unaware of recent events, Lee Heeseung—previous main vocalist and centre of the group—has
left ENHYPEN to persue a solo career. There has been a lot of discourse
over his leave and the reasonings behind it, and personally I find a
lot of it to be unnecessary at best.
Heeseung himself stated in his parting letter that he was to "follow
the direction the company suggested", and fans have taken this to mean
that the company themselves influenced his decision to part ways with
the other members. However, if you include the previous part before
that, he says he "spent a long time discussing and deliberating with
many people about the best way to present it to [the fans]", and this is
likely what he is referring to in regards to following the direction of
the company. Even if it were the case that the company pushed him
towards this, Heeseung is an adult capable of making his own decisions,
and so to shove this choice and its consequences solely onto the company
is silly.
This is not to excuse Be:Lift, they are a horrible
company and are known for overworking Enhypen. Criticise the company as
much as you'd like in regards to that, but people need to stop acting
like Heesung is a child and unable to understand the impact and results
of leaving the group. He is 24 years old, he agreed to leave.
As of 11th March 2026, a portion of ENHYPEN's fans—officially named Engenes, which is how I will be referring to them throughout the rest of this blog post—have
begun commenting under the livestreams, artist posts and community
forums belonging to other groups, urging both fans and artists to speak
up about Heeseung's situation. They have also been linking petitions for
these people to sign, with the goal of Be:Lift allowing Heeseung to
promote as a soloist whilst still working as ENHYPEN.
Now,
Engenes asking for support is understandable, but to actively solicit
support that goes against Heeseung's choice and then respond with snide,
pointed remarks to those who ask you to stop flooding their community
with drama of another group is shameful behaviour. Multiple Engenes have
appeared under non-HYBE livestreams and group posts, and honestly, I
fail to understand what they are expecting to accomplish. Not only do
these idols have nothing to do with the situation at hand, they do not
even belong to the same company. Why are the fans directing this news to
them in the hopes they will respond? They have no influence over this
situation.
Some may consider me cold or uncaring for
this position, but I truly do not care. K-pop fans consistently drag
other idols into messes that have nothing to do with them, and quite
frankly I am tired of it. Leave Seventeen alone. Leave Stray Kids alone.
Leave IVE alone. Leave AOEN—a Japanese group that haven't even hit their 1 year minestole yet—alone, they are not even k-pop based. Leave Santos Bravos—a Latin American global group that only recently debuted a few months ago—alone as well, spamming about Heeseung underneath their music videos is embarrassing behaviour. Their comment sections are meant for them,
not for other groups; this is a Heeseung, ENHYPEN and Be:Lift issue,
not a general HYBE issue. Stop bringing in irrelevant parties.
With
all of that out of the way, I'd like to address a few comments I have
seen on various social medias. These will be included in the next
'section'.
"Waiting out the year / contract would have meant not screwing over his former members."
If
any of the members speak up about being blindsided by this then I will
concede that he screwed them over, but until they come forward with a
statement of their own, why assume? If by 'screwed over' they mean
EHYPEN won't be the same without him, then I can understand the
sentiment, however the other members have strengths of their own and
should be able to come back from this loss with their own skill and
ambition—individual members should be able to stand well enough on their own, not only when seen as a group.
"If
he wanted to be in the group as well as release his own solo album, he
could have just waited for 2026 to end ... He wanted to go solo now!
Like as soon as possible."
The lack of
media literacy and critical thinking within k-pop circles is astounding.
This decision was not made on a whim, and the fact that so many seem to
believe this news coming out of nowhere means no thought was put into
it is laughable. Heeseung has mentioned wanting to pursue a solo career
in the past, and the letter he himself handwrote says, verbatim:
"I've continued my personal projects, pouring a lot of time into them in
the hope of one day showing them to you", which means he has been
deliberating over this for a while now. Why people act as if business
decisions are all considered and approved on the exact same day will
always baffle me. I understand a lot of k-pop fans are minors, but this
should not be something people are seriously considering.
"I'm
really curious why he decided to leave the group. From the way the
members interact, they always seem open, comfortable with each other,
and supportive too."
Who's to say the
members weren't also comfortable and supportive of this decision? I see a
whole lot of 'what about the other members' going on, but we have no
way of knowing whether they disapproved of this decision or not, so
truthfully, why does it matter? Leaving the group is Heeseung's choice, not Enhypen's choice, their feelings have no bearing on what Heeseung's ambitions are.
Regardless
of whether they were supportive or not, the members cannot make
Heeseung do or not do anything he doesn't wish to. Just because he may
have a good relationship with the members does not mean he'll want to
stay in a group where he's constantly overworked and given concepts he
doesn't vibe with; artist direction and integrity is important. BeLift
pushed back Heeseung's solo work multiple times because of their group
schedules, it comes as no surprise that this may have influenced his
decision.
"As per his message, he just
followed the company's direction. It's probably a decision from
management, and as an employee, ... they just follow the decision of
higher ups." ... "But, what I'm sure is, it was never him who decided to
leave, he was just following."
God forbid a man want to pursue a career of his own. As I mentioned previously, even if the company did
direct him to do this, it was still ultimately Heeseung's decision to
accept and move forward with it, so pinning all of this on the company
is asinine. The infantilisation of idols strikes again. Heeseung is an
adult capable of weighing the pros and cons as well as understanding the
consequences of his actions—both the good and the bad—and to say otherwise is just silly.
"Heeseung was seen crying."
This
has not be confirmed, please stop sharing this everywhere as if it's
gospel. Speculation is not permissable as evidence of company pressure,
nor is it proof that Heeseung regrets his choice.
"But Yeonjun promoted both as a soloist and as TXT at the same time!"
Heeseung
isn't Yeonjun. Different people have different stress thresholds, and
perhaps Heeseung didn't want to deal with the pressure of balancing
multiple schedules. There's no shame in that, knowing your limits is an
important skill, and so is knowing when to put yourself first. I am not
stating this is the case, my comment is just as much of a speculation as
anyone else's, but reactions like this are very pressuring; you'd
rather Heeseung overwork himself further with two schedules instead of
choosing what he thinks is best? Really?
"Creative differences? But NCT have comebacks they've hated and still promote as a group."
This
isn't about them, this is about Heeseung. Many people have brought up
other soloists who promote alongside the groups they are from, yet that
has absolutely no relevance on Heeseung's choice in the
slightest. Heeseung has his own feelings and his own problems to deal
with, why do the capabilities of other people matter? They aren't him.
I
have also seen numerous comments about how Heeseung will never be able
to make it 'big' while promoting solo as he would in ENHYPEN, and that
he is making a mistake by going solo because of it. Why does the
potential for success matter? Why can't Heeseung wish to prioritise
himself, even if it does mean less fame? Who's to say that Heeseung even
wants to chase that celebrity status, perhaps he simply wishes to have
his own creative direction and control over the music he puts out, why
must popularity be considered in this situation at all? Popularity and
recognition are always partially a driving force, yes, but if one cannot
preserve their own artistic integrity, then that will cause internal
conflict in a lot of people, Heeseung included.
I hate Be:Lift as much as anyone else rightfully should, but I refuse to
blame Heeseung's own choices on the company. Even if Be:Lift gave him
an ultimatum, Heeseung himself chose one of the two options: leave and prioritise a solo career. Until a statement comes out explicitly saying or implying that the company pushed this onto Heeseung, I'm going to take the choice at face value and respect that it was something he chose for himself.
As
a fan, you can argue that you've invested a lot of time in them as a
7-member group and also into Heesung himself and I will happily agree
with that; you certainly have a right to be upset by the news and how
sudden it is. Ultimately, however, you are a fan and nothing
more. Your opinion does not matter when it comes to an artist's personal
choices and/or well-being, especially when the alternative requires
Heeseung to work his ass off even further to the detriment of his
health.
Even if you disagree with the direction, respect Heeseung's privacy and autonomy. It's not hard.
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Strudel
Hi! I liked your blog. I’m not a major K-pop Stan but I do enjoy a lot of K-pop/J-pop music. What you stated is a great example of how fandoms escalate to extremes.. (I’ve seen similar remarks and attitudes to other artists who also branch away from their designated/og bands.) I couldn’t imagine having to deal with the amount of pressure that comes with not only appealing the fans, but the company labels as well.
Perhaps becoming a soloist will be a good refresh for them.
Thank you for commenting!
It definitely is just another instance of fans assuming too quickly. Is it possible that the company did pressure Heeseung? Yes. Does that mean they actually did? None of us will know unless Heeseung himself states as much. The best thing to do in the meantime is to trust Heeseung and respect his autonomy by accepting the decision as is; there's no use speculating when nothing has hinted at the decision being pushed onto anybody.
The pressure is definitely immense when it comes to fan satisfaction. Company-related morale is important too, of course, but that is still usually internal, whereas most fan-related issues will always have an external element, and are much more likely to become widespread. I agree with you on that point.
I do hope Heeseung does well solo, but even if he doesn't I'll still support his decision and his music if it suits my tastes well. Always wishing him and any other idols good luck in what they do, they deserve the right to choose for themselves what they want to pursue, even if fans dislike it.
by Mono (모노디스트); ; Report