At KCON, EVAN Knows Nothing Stays As It Was
In his first North American appearance since leaving ENHYPEN, the singer makes a strong case that he’s better on his own.
CJ ENM
Palpable tension filled the room when EVAN, the artist formerly known as HEESEUNG, took the stage at Crypto.com Arena for the final night of KCON LA on Sunday. Some fans might wager that ALL DAY PROJECT is the most controversial group to grace KCON this past weekend, but I would say it’s EVAN. No one has inspired this much anger, sadness, or abject unhinged energy as his departure from ENHYPEN did over the summer. The fact that he is so controversial, though, is ironic when his solo debut is so bland.
I hadn’t thought much of EVAN’s first single “RIDE OR DIE”. The title, I figured, could be a reference to the ENGENES who stood by him, protesting day and night at Hybe, screaming “ENHYPEN IS 7” and generally embarrassing themselves over the reality that EVAN wanted to leave, chose to leave, and seemed happier on his own. But viewed less conceptually, it felt like a safe debut choice. The song is inoffensive and, if I’m being honest, mid; with no real memorable vocals that show why EVAN was - arguably - the voice of ENHYPEN.
Just hours before his performance on the M COUNTDOWN stage, I had seen EVAN for the first time at the KCON Red Carpet event. Even by K-pop idol standards, he looked radiant, with a glossy, bright smile and the slightest hint of an Australian accent when he spoke English. I could barely hear him, though, because of the fans pressed against the barricade, shrieking and shaking as if they were being electrocuted.
EVAN’s debut at KCON was a smart choice by Hybe. By my estimates, Western fans have ridden the hardest for him since he departed for ENHYPEN. These were the fans who camped outside of Hybe chanting for his return. They sent protest trucks and brought OT7 signs to ENHYPEN concerts, eventually prompting JUNGWON, the leader, to tell them to stop on a livestream. His message to these fans was the equivalent of “Go touch grass,” but it barely landed with those who were already lost. Most of the stans who this was directed at crashed out like a circuit had broken loose.
On his own livestreams and in clips from a Spotify listening party, I noticed that EVAN seemed spunkier and funnier than I expected. Many fans speculated that he was over being an idol in the same way Zayn was over being a member of One Direction. At KCON I wondered how those two ideas would collide: Would he be a polished, if not boring, idol or would someone more interesting emerge?
CJ ENM
By the second song of EVAN’s set, I found that the answer was the latter. He opened with “Overflow”, a moody R&B track that took off about midway through as EVAN began to lose himself in the melodies and mood. He swayed lightly and held his arms outstretched, a man at ease and lost in the moment.
I was surprised by his confidence and how much happier he seemed on stage by himself. His performance had real magnetism, and even in the smallest moments, he seemed in control and genuinely happy.
The most pointed moment came halfway through after EVAN thanked fans for standing by him. Then, in a cover that seemed brilliantly strategized, he launched into “As It Was”, the smash single by Harry Styles. Styles, like EVAN, also comes from a superstar group (One Direction) and, while he never formally left the group, his career took off once he went solo. The genius of “As It Was” is that it is open to interpretation. (Styles is a master of saying a lot but meaning nothing while letting his fans read whatever they want into his intentions, much like idols.) But on this night, among his most diehard fans, EVAN’s message seemed clear: Even if he went back to ENHYPEN, things would never be the same.
“You know it’s not the same,” he sang as he walked down the runway with a fieriness I’ve never heard before, “as it was.” The fans stretched out to reach him, eager to make contact with an idol who had forsaken a cardinal rule in K-pop: Don’t break the illusion. Don’t let them know you have ambitions beyond your group, or worse, brotherhood.
Fans will likely never get clarity on why EVAN left ENHYPEN. But this cover felt like the clearest explanation yet: People change. We grow. EVAN wanted something more. He wanted to grow and be himself. So, as he launched into “Ride or Die”, I felt that there was some bravery behind what he was doing. He did seem genuinely different on stage alone: looser, more improvisational, more open to whatever the crowd wanted from him.
Above all, EVAN seems to know a bitter truth about life: people can change their minds; we can leave behind what isn’t meant for us – and it would be wrong to pretend otherwise.
