The company Belift Lab was established in 2018 as a joint venture between HYBE Corporation and CJ ENM, and in August 2023, it was fully acquired by HYBE. Something pretty significant happened in-between those two points though: the 2020 Mnet survival competition series, I-Land. I-Land aired between June 26, 2020 and September 18, 2020, and boy trainees competed in a series of tests to earn their spot in what would become a seven-member boy group at Belift Lab — Enhypen. Enhypen has sold millions of albums in the times since, but let’s take a look back at when it all started. Here is the complete answer to when exactly Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki made their debut as Enhypen at Belift Lab.
Enhypen Debuted on November 30, 2020 with Border : Day One and “Given-Taken”
Enhypen made their debut on November 30, 2020 with first mini-album Border : Day One and its lead single, “Given-Taken.” The Border : Day One tracklist includes six songs in total: “Intro : Walk the Line,” “Given-Taken,” “Let Me In (20 CUBE),” “10 Months,” “Flicker,” and “Outro : Cross the Line.” “Given-Taken” particularly was composed by a team of highly well-known songwriters, including Wonderkid, LIL 27 CLUB, “hitman” bang (Big Hit founder Bang Si-hyuk), Melanie Joy Fontana, Andreas Carlsson, Michel “Lindgren” Schulz, Sunshine (Cazzi Opeia and Ellen Berg), and KYLER NICO.
On the day of their debut, Enhypen held an hour-long televised showcase through Mnet, DEBUT SHOW : DAY ONE, in which they performed “Given-Taken” and “Flicker,” and a video was also featured for “Intro : Walk the Line.” The music video for “Given-Taken” was likewise released on this day. Prior to debut, on November 18, 2020, the group had begun featuring in a reality series on the HYBE Labels YouTube channel, called ENHYPEN&Hi.
Enhypen would go on to perform on a music show for the first time on December 4, 2020, with “Given-Taken” on Music Bank. Border : Day One would sell an excellent 280,873 copies in its first week of availability, with 229,991 copies sold in the first day, according to Hanteo Chart, and it would also debut at #2 on Oricon’s Weekly Album Chart in Japan, selling an estimated 71,404 copies. This made the album the bestselling K-pop debut in 2020 to that point. Since then, the group has only seen ever escalating levels of success, as the Engene fandom is well aware.
In summary, Enhypen made their debut on November 30, 2020 with Border : Day One and lead single “Given-Taken.” For more about the group, check out how old the Enhypen members currently are and the slightly surprising answer to who their leader is.
And for another Belift Lab group created through a reality competition, check out the story behind the debut of I’LL-IT, as well as how old the I’LL-IT members currently are.