Hello! I think I have finally managed to compile enough sources to make a fairly comprehensive vocal analysis of each member post debut. I’ve been making comments on their vocals ever since I-Land and it has been about 2 weeks since their debut, and since then, there have been a bunch of new sources that I’ve found that have helped solidify my opinions on each member. Surprisingly, some of rankings have shifted.
I’ll do them in one by one in random order for now and rank them later! I’ll probably do one every 3 days.
Refer to [this link](https://kpopvocalanalysis.net/) is you want to understand some of the terms I may use in the following analysis.
**Intro**
For the first part of this series, I will be doing **Jungwon** (my bias, but this won’t stop me from being objective with him). We already know he is one of the best vocalists in the group, but to what extent, we never really looked at. I will be looking at all parts of Jungwon’s voice and his ability, and give POIs (points of improvement) when needed.
I’ve underestimated him to be honest. I thought I was already biased when praising him, but his performances in the live performances as well as some new clips have exceeded my expectations. The Gap between him and Heeseung is not as wide as I initially anticipated.
**Jungwon**
**Known Vocal Range*** – Bb2(Chest) ->C5(Mixed/Head Voice)->Eb5(Falsetto)
**Supported Range** – E3 -> E4
**Pros**
– Produces ***consistent support*** from E3-> E4. After looking back at I-Land, I’ve realized he already has supported the same range as we’ve seen from the first 2 episodes! He supported the E3 in All I Want to do, which is impressive on its right. He has also supported the sustained ‘scared’ from his iconic ‘Yeah I’m scared’ line, an E4. He sounded very open, relaxed and well projected. There wasn’t much tension. His debut + more sources of live vocals have only proved this to me. He consistently supports in this area well. This means Jungwon already has a niche over many 4th gen idols who do not optimally support in any part of their range,
– My mind has changed. **Jungwon has the best intonation in Enhypen.** He is the most consistently in tune. Not to say that he does not go out of tune, all the members do for sure. But Jungwon has been more consistent than Jay in the recent live performances, as well as Heeseung. Even in their ‘Given Taken Going Home ver.’, Jungwon was more consistently in tune, and that isn’t about singing + dancing either so I can’t give Heeseung leeway. *Jay has shown inconsistencies in the recent clips I’ve gotten from him, which dethrones him from being En-‘s ‘king of intonation’.* I’ve always had the slight problem with Heeseung’s intonation to be honest, and recent clips have just proved his inconsistency. Sometimes, he is perfectly in tune, others, not really. I’ve realized in the raw fanmeet clips, the main reason why Jungwon goes out of tune in some parts is because he is unsure/forgot the lyrics, but when he remembers it, he is in tune pretty much most of the time. Overall, through watching all sources of live vocals we have of En- so far, Jungwon has been the most in tune.
– **Jungwon has been able to keep his larynx in a relaxed, neutral position whenever he is singing within his supported range.** He also generally maintains this outside of his supported range, keeping general neutrality in notes up to Ab4(with an exception I will talk about in the cons). In A4, he starts to raise it considerably and it sounds more thin. However, it isn’t a major issue until B4, in where it starts to sound tense, whiny, and slightly strained. *It becomes the most apparent when singing the C5s in Into the I-Land chorus in I-Land’s finale, in where his larynx is much too high and his singing sounds very pushed, forced, strained, tense, and thin.* This is another reason why I am so happy that Given Taken’s chorus does not have notes higher than Bb4 and mainly revolves around the F#4s and Ab4s because Jungwon is able to show his capability in this area. Even though he does not support the notes, arguably, he places his singing much better which causes his singing to sound more robust and solid, which is unlike the usual tendency when shifting to higher notes in where singers sound thinner and weaker. Jungwon keeps this neutral larynx for quite a large portion of his known vocal range. This is how Jungwon maintains a consistent tone through most of his voice, which leads to my next point.
– **Jungwon is adept in his tonal production of his voice**, especially in notes within his supported range. He knows his voice and is able to bring out its best qualities. This is one of the reasons why he sounds so ‘stable’, especially when in his comfortable range like his ‘let’s just try line’. In this range, he sings with little tension, nasality and breathiness. Even outside of his supported range, he stays very connected, only with some inconsistencies as he goes higher up, consistently producing that nice husky tone throughout his voice. Notice how Jungwon sounds so consistent throughout his singing. I’m sure you notice it as well.
– **Jungwon along with Heeseung are most stable members of Enhypen**. The [website](https://kpopvocalanalysis.net/) I use to refer to vocal definitions describes stability as “The stability of the voice, meaning it’s not off pitch and it doesn’t sound wobbly, shaky and unsupported.” Jungwon as I’ve already said has the best pitch in Enhypen overall, which ticks the first criteria. Jungwon has only occasionally sounded wobbly for his performances, but maintains that general connected and smooth sound whenever possible. (unless very difficult choreo) This ticks the last 3 boxes for most part, and you can definitely claim Jungwon is a ‘stable’ vocalist.
This is going to be a slight detour, forgive me, but I do want to correct a misconception.
– Many engenes (and k pop fans for that matter) really mistake using the word stability and I want to correct that. The true ‘stable’ members of Enhypen are really only Jungwon and Heeseung. Jay is the most stable after the 2, but he still does have moments such KBS music bank (the first one) where his post chorus line was pretty wobbly. Many claim Sunoo to be ‘stable’ but the problem with Sunoo most of the time is that his intonation can be very inconsistent and some of the more reliable MR removed channels I’ve watched recently have shown otherwise (Sunoo was wobbly, shaky and unsupported). Sunoo can be ‘stable’ in fairly still performances without hard choreo like Save Me but still has inconsistencies. Sunghoon is not really stable yet, only in his chest register he has shown this. So is Jake, though both have the potential to be. Niki has been becoming more stable recently tbh, which is amazing. I would say, praise Enhypen for the fact that they ARE singing live, but I cringe slightly when I see ‘X member is so stable’ example in where in that particular performance, X member is the most unstable.
– **Jungwon’s transitions between his chest and mixed voice (or his passagios) are so smooth you can barely tell that he changes registers.** One of the marks of a good singer is that when their different registers are starting to blend into one another to the point that ‘shifts’ in placement and registers does not become obvious until falsetto (which has a very different airy quality to it). You can really only tell when you listen carefully, for example, his upper mixed voice(C5 ish) is usually sung with a high larynx and sounds tense for most part so you can tell. Or in his chest voice, his vocal projection is particularly good so he sounds like he is in a small room even though he isn’t (robust sound). Or in his mixed voice, where his vowels shift (I well get to this later). The times what when you can notice is occasionally, he makes slight pitch errors when he struggle slightly to shift placements in live performances so his change in register becomes more apparent. But for most part, he transitions smoothly. His tone remains relatively similar throughout his voice.
– **Jungwon has strong vocal projection**. He has shown improvement in this area from I-land. It is very obvious when he is lipsyncing or he isn’t in the live performances because when he starts singing you can clearly hear his voice over the backing track. For most part, he uses correct technique, although when he starts singing notes lower than E3, he starts losing projection (Happy Birthday to Niki for example). But in his supported range and up to Ab4, he has good vocal projection which is also partially because Jungwon has good chord closure.
**Cons**
– **Jungwon struggles with vowels in the F#4 and Ab4 area especially when he is singing Let Me In**. He does not produce an efficient and relaxed sound because he did not shape his mouth in the best way possible which causes his ‘moonlight’ and ‘good time’ respectively to sound tense and shaky. He needs to work on singing with the ‘o’ sound because what happens is that he attempts to sing the ‘o’ sound with the shape of a mouth which you use to say the ‘e’ sound instead. This causes unnecessary struggle. I am frustrated because he has produced much more supported and relaxed sound in the same range, as he has demonstrated that he can sing the whole chorus of Given-Taken with a less tense, stable and open sound. The way he pronounces this also brings out unwanted nasality, which in this case, is not optimal.
– **Jungwon has an underdeveloped higher register.** He possesses a weaker falsetto and head voice. His singing in his head voice above B4, most of the time, is extremely tense because he lacks proper support in this area. His falsetto is overly breathy and airy, which is prone to intonation and stability issues. If falsetto is required for the song, Jungwon needs to learn how to concentrate his airstream when producing falsettos so it can sound stronger, more powerful, and stable. Weaker falsettos for sylistic choice is fine but the falsetto in ‘I Need U’ was in where it required a stronger sound to capitalize on the haunting effect that that line gives to the song. Jimin did a pretty good job when he sung it, but I felt Jungwon’s falsetto needed more impact and he is yet to show that he is capable of achieving such a falsetto.
– **Jungwon had a few problems in nasality in I-land,** and the only time where it was really a problem post-debut was when he sung the ‘moonlight’ in let me in. However, for his other sources of singing, it is not a problem.
– While Jungwon has the best intonation of En- Post debut, **there are still moments where he may go off here and there.** Constantly improving intonation is always a plus. For example, when he ends his solo verse 2 in Given Taken, he has a tendency to go flat on the last note.
– **Jungwon has underdeveloped vocal agility**. His runs are usually imperfect. Basically, he is inconsistent. He should look towards Heeseung for guidance in this area, who has the best agility in En- atm.
– At the moment, **he cannot optimally support notes higher than E4**. As Sam Johnson puts, support is not one dimensional, a singer can still have some degree of support but they can be strained at the same time or simply missing certain criteria to achieve optimum support. The same can be applied to Jungwon. He optimally supports E4s all the time. His F4s, F#4s, G4s, and even his Ab4s have shown varying degrees of support. His F4s are the closest, but they are not extremely consistent. But all of those notes mentioned, Jungwon has shown some degree of support. When he sings the chorus of Given-Taken (which compromises primarily of F#4s and Ab4s), he has shown that while he does not fully support those notes, there is some degree of support there (what we can call *shallow support*). His Ab4s in I Need U especially were very impressive, I’m not sure of it was autotuned or whatever but he sounded amazing on those Ab4s. In other performances, he has shown degrees of support in his G4s. But he does not 100% support these notes. Something for him to work on.
– **He still lacks exploration of his voice in notes lower than E3.** It is very clear to me that Jungwon DOES have an extensive lower range. His naturally lower speaking voice + his singing in Niki’s birthday has shown his lower register. He still sounds like he CAN go lower than a Bb2 which he sung in Niki’s birthday. It has real potential, but I think he needs to explore it fully harness it. He still maintains and produces tone in those notes, although his projection is not optimum and it is not fully supported. But there are limited vocalists in k pop who manage to maintain tone in notes as low as Bb2. He should make use of his gift. He sounds nice there too…
– While Jungwon is already very stable especially for a rookie idol, **Jungwon still has some unstable moments that are not when they are doing the hard choreography.** This may be something to do with stamina and breath support. While Heeseung and Jungwon already have the best stamina in Enhypen, this is POI for both of them.
– **His transitions between Head Voice/Heady Mixed Voice into a Falsetto are not smooth**. He may adept in switching from his chest register to his mixed but he is yet to achieve a smooth transition into a falsetto.
– Jungwon needs fine tuning in most aspects. But he definitely has the potential. **Dear Belift, do not screw up his vocals AND make the most out of his talents.**
**General Comments**
Jungwon is a very talented young man who has a bright future ahead of him in terms of vocals. The potential he has inside of him is immense. If he was to be trained properly for a few years, he has potential to be up there with some of the best k-pop idol vocalists in the industry. It is clear that he is confident with his singing and has practiced it for some time. His vocal tone is like no other, he will help Enhypen carve a unique sound. But he doesn’t stop there. He has already started developing his gift and this is evident. In all of Enhypen’s live performances, overall, he had the best execution of his lines. This is especially evident in [this performance for example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8dQo9mbvlA&feature=youtu.be) That is not the only performance where Jungwon shined the most, but he has performed the best execution wise in quite a number of Enhypen’s performances, though on a good day, Heeseung beats him. Honestly, I am more inclined to believe that he was an SM trainee after looking at his vocals in depth because it is clear that he has been trained to quite an extent. He isn’t exceptional yet, but he the potential to be.
I’d like to especially highlight the live version of Given-Taken (going home ver.). Jungwon was the only member of Enhypen who sung all of his lines live, and even though he wasn’t taking it seriously, he executed it well. I was surprised. He only had slight pitch deviations here and there and some small issues, but he sounded great. You can find the link below in the sources section.
It is a shame that Jungwon has not been getting enough recognition for his vocals recently, because I feel so excited to see what he can become in the future.
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**Jungwon’s scores in Vocals in different aspects (this time, my perspective is considering other k-pop vocalists in the industry outside of Enhypen)**
**Tone** – 9/10
**Intonation** – 7/10 (Overall, he has about 70% in tune. Through getting more sources of live vocals, my extimates of intonation for each member have lowered. For example, Jay and Heeseung are going to get 6/10 in intonation when I do their respective analysis in comparison to 9/10 and 7/10 pre debut because I’ve seen more raw vocals from then. Jungwon’s old score was an 8/10 for example)
**Support** – 5/10 (someone would get a 10 in support if they have a supported range of 2 octaves or more. Jungwon only has a supported range of an octave so gets half of 10 which is 5)
**Agility** (runs) – 4/10
**Stability** – 7/10
**Transitions** – 7/10
Overall – **6.5/10** (Tier, **B-**, check [this post for reference to the tier list](https://www.reddit.com/r/Enhypenthoughts/comments/jy9nmi/vocal_milestonehighlight_flame_on_and_finale_jay/))
**My view on Jungwon’s vocals over time:**
I’ve made a bunch of posts in Enhypen thoughts sub reddit on my opinion of their vocals in I-land as well, and this how my view on Jungwon’s vocals have changed over time.
Beginning of I-Land End **Debut**
5.1/10 ————————–>6.1/10 (after more sources) ————–> **6.5/10** (after even more sources)
**Extra Comments**
– What increased my score of Jungwon’s ability was because back then, **I wasn’t sure of his supported range.** But after listening to his Raw Vocals, I am pretty sure of this now. It simply confirmed my suspicions.
– In addition, **he got a few plus points for his consistency in his recent live performances.** Honestly, I feel like Heeseung would be more consistent if he got less lines, but right not, Jungwon’s performances have consistently been the best
**Sources**
Note: I did not use any sources from their debut showcase. I also did not use FNS music festival. I also made sure that the MR removed channels I used are fairly reliable (most reliable is the NL MR removed Given Taken one from their recent Music Bank Performance). I used snippets of live vocals from their respective owners who recorded their singing through the online fanmeeting and posted on twitter. I also used the live radio show snippet. Finally, we still get the most sources from I-land which have mixed reliability so you can take it with a grain of salt. Most reliable ones are All I Want to Do and Into the I-Land.
[https://twitter.com/ihs_heeseung/status/1336299138632142850?s=20](https://twitter.com/ihs_heeseung/status/1336299138632142850?s=20) – Permission (fanmeet)
[https://twitter.com/enhypenbestboys/status/1336290897143635969?s=20](https://twitter.com/enhypenbestboys/status/1336290897143635969?s=20) – All I want to do (fan meet)
[https://twitter.com/heeseungiedeer/status/1335595583864676354?s=20](https://twitter.com/heeseungiedeer/status/1335595583864676354?s=20) – Let Me In snippet from radio show. (Side Comment, he sung this almost perfectly. I have a hard time believing this is live especially for k-pop standards)
[https://twitter.com/heeseunged/status/1336336214379483137?s=20](https://twitter.com/heeseunged/status/1336336214379483137?s=20) – Happy birthday to Niki (V Live)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsvCd5w6qlQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsvCd5w6qlQ) – I-Land Compilation
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X61pc0SmQA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X61pc0SmQA) – I Need U I Land
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8amZw-5of8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8amZw-5of8) – Given Taken KBS Music Bank 1st Week MR Removed
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqkiTdZtQeU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqkiTdZtQeU) – Let Me In Arirang (despite this not being MR removed, Jungwon’s vocals are crystal clear here)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgb9WeRxHBc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgb9WeRxHBc) – 10 months Live (The Show)
[https://youtu.be/f8dQo9mbvlA](https://youtu.be/f8dQo9mbvlA)[ ](https://www.reddit.com/user/I_LAND_EGG)- MR Removed Given Taken (NL MR Removed, most reliable)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWmsdvBa8Bc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWmsdvBa8Bc) – Given Taken Live Going Home Version (Sunghoon’s birthday)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSwSHoFW0C4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSwSHoFW0C4) – All I want to do I-Land
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN0hH-HuHQo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN0hH-HuHQo) – The Fact Music Awards
Total (13 sources)
Honestly speaking, it would be ideal to have more than 20 – 30 sources for vocal analysis but given the limited information we have and the fact that Enhypen’s radio appearance on Arirang was cancelled because of the Co-Vid Scare, I realized that we probably won’t be getting more for a while.
I hope that was helpful and informative. If you see a mistake, kindly correct me.
I’ll be doing Heeseung next 🙂