Theory: Drunk-Dazed + Connections to Gfriend and TXT Universe
Based on this theory by @soyatenada + my own connections to Gfriend’s mv
Because my big brain has finally been activated (thank you soy bene) and I’m obsessed with analyzing pieces of music, here we go:
Last chorus of “Apple” —
“Dream the red dream, endless and deep
Let rise the shimmering light of destruction
Don’t agonize, let go the timid child
Take me, the endless witching hour descends”
The “red dream” = blood, a.k.a taking vampire blood. We’ll come back to the dream part later, because that’s important. But the red here, in my opinion, represents both blood and the apple, saying “temptation can lead to consequences.” Or if you want to be simple, it can just mean blood as in vampires. And this is also the color of the drink that Sunoo is holding in the teaser...
“shimmering light of destruction” - leading Enhypen to their destruction
“Don’t agonize, let go of the timid child”- this can symbolize them telling Enhypen to let go of their old selves, surrender themselves to another being that’s more powerful and controlling. They were scared before, trapped as children in the orphanage, but having trust in their friends (if we’re going with evil Sunoo and protective Jake theory) and following this temptation of theirs gives them a chance to shed that timid self and become confident and powerful. The “don’t agonize” part is kind of ironic, since it’s a contrast to how they will feel pain after getting bitten. Of course, it can just be false words to tempt them to become vampires.
“Take me, the endless witching hour descends” - I can see it from two perspectives: Enhypen as in them saying “take us, take everything (*cough* familiar lyrics anyone?) OR it can represent the apple/Gfriend telling them to take the path to destruction. And as I mentioned before in Bene’s post, the witching hour is when they finally crossed the line to vampire land (and yes, pun very much intended).
So....you might be wondering, well ok, that’s Gfriend’s pov, but how about Enhypen’s? And why do they use the “dream” and why does that even matter? How does it all come together?
*takes a deep breath* Grab a bucket of popcorn, because this is gonna be hella long, and I might be stretching some points, but I think this goes beyond bigger than just the Enhypen universe. It connects to both Gfriend’s and Txt’s as well (and possibly BTS’, though I need more information and research on that).
Firstly, let’s look at the lyrics from the drunk-dazed teaser (This is just a rough translation from what I’ve learned in Korean, with a little help from Google Translate. I’m not fluent in Korean, so please correct me if the translations are wrong!):
“Dazed, dazed, dazed / Dance, dance, dance / Eh, I wake you up / Eh, burn my heart / Eh, fill up my dream”
Ok, let’s break it down. There’s two main points in these lyrics alone that I feel is crucial to understanding the whole universe in general.
“Dance, dance, dance” are lyrics that also appear repeatedly in the pre-chorus and post-chorus of Gfriend’s “Apple,” further strengthening my point about the link between the two songs/groups. In this context, it can illustrate the carnival itself — a huge event meant to conceal a darker secret. The sirens, or Gfriend, want the boys to keep dancing, having fun, slowly pulling them into their trap. Again, another example of temptation luring them in.
Also, in Gfriend “Mago” they also talk about “dancing in this moment” and “my life has been waiting for you”....I have a feeling that this somehow connects to Enhypen’s next comeback...but for now, let’s just leave it here because I don’t have enough evidence to support my reasoning yet.
“I wake you up / burn my heart / fill up my dream” — In a broader sense, this can be Enhypen waking up their “other half,” a side they never shown before, as they transition to vampires. But let’s delve deeper into the last line “fill up my dream” because that’s where everything sort of fall into place (it’s more of a jumble of puzzle piece that clashes and mashed up, but I’m going to try to piece it out).
Enhypen has mentioned this “dream” before, in “Cross the Line” - “If I wake from dreamless sleep. May tomorrow begin like a dream.”
This “dream” is also referenced in one of Shakespeare sonnets, whose lines are used in “Outro: Wormhole.” The lyrics are “And yet when most I wink / Then do mine eyes best see.” I’m not going to paste the whole sonnet here, but in short, the sonnet talks about longing and dreaming. This line in colloquial terms means “But when I’m asleep / I see the best.” This can illustrate how they see the best when dreaming, and relating to the sonnet, they see “you” in their dreams. Whoever this “you” is, it’s important to them.
(Oh my god, I just got an idea of how this can also connect to their idol life as well, but Imma make that into another post instead because my brain is about to explode.)
(I got these lyrics from Genius, and some engenes there also analyze the Shakespeare language that Enhypen used in Intro: The Invitation. I might make another theory about how the sonnet in that song connects to the Outro, but I don’t want to confuse y’all so I’m sticking to the “dream” aspect in this post. If you want to see the translation and the theory, here you go)
So this dream of Enhypen’s is important to them, and the carnival seem to trigger the dream again for them. As we can see from “Cross the Line,” they want their tomorrow to be dreamlike, because their today was dull. I feel like their journey can be divided into two parts: the dull, gray, timid life of theirs in the orphanage, where they’re under the control of someone else. And then there’s the wild, fantasy-like, vampire transition, where they’re thrown into this dream-like atmosphere, and they are still being controlled, but they can’t resist it.
Now let’s go back to the line in Gfriend’s song, “Dream the red dream, endless and deep.” They want Enhypen to keep dreaming. And them becoming vampires represent that they are currently in that dream of blood.
So, ok, they’re happily living this dream of theirs. But a dream is still fake, a false distortion of reality. So...what’s reality?
Here’s where I’m kind of stretching it a bit, and this might even sound crazy (I’m already crazy so it doesn’t matter). I got this idea from @hseungsteeth, when Beanie mentioned how even it’s a prince concept, it looks futuristic. And the Down and Hype versions of the concept photos....I think they represent the reality, the opposite of this dream of theirs. We see the car crash, the red lights and gangster like outfits, so it makes me wonder: what if they want to live in this dream to escape reality? Are they living in a dystopian world where people get hurt constantly and are attacked by creepy clowns and skulls (objects from the Hype teaser videos)? I don’t have a solid claim for this yet, but I like the idea of dream and reality, two things that we also see in TXT’s videos.
Alright, this is where I try my best to link this to TXT. I think TXT has their own storyline, that differs from Enhypen, but the part where the two meet is in their depictions of dream and reality. I’m not going to go in depth into TXT’s theories, but we can see how Soobin can hear the calling of danger in magic island, how Beomgyu (I think it was Beomgyu? Or it was Soobin again) saw the images through the practice mirror, their dream of “running away” portrayed by the concept of Harry Potter. TXT also want to escape reality, because in their dream, they’re with their friends again, they’re are accepted for who they are (ex: in Crown, they realize they are not a monster just because they have horns on their head. They accept it as their “crown” and will wear it like the kings they are), and they can just be themselves. But these dreams are short, as we can see from “Blue Hour,” where Beomgyu is once again left alone after that blissful hour passes.
And these dreams come with danger too. In both Enhypen’s and TXT’s universes, we see the danger of getting marked and transition into vampires, we see the fires that can burn down that magic island. So, how can they save their dream, and confront reality?
