How fans reacted to Enhypen’s ‘Sweet Venom’ collab with Bella Poarch

November 7, 2023 - 4:11 PM
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Composite photo of Enhypen and Bella Poarch (BELIFTLAB, bellapoarch/X, Instagram)

TikTok star Bella Poarch is featured in Enhypen‘s song in their upcoming extended play (EP) “Orange Blood.”

This was revealed in the EP’s tracklist that Belift Lab dropped on the X app on November 5. It included three versions of the title track “Sweet Venom.”

Enhypen’s collaboration with Bella will be available in digital format only.

The rest of the titles are:

  • “Mortal”
  • “Still Monster”
  • “Far”
  • “Orange Flower (You Complete Me)”
  • “Sweet Venom”
  • “Sweet Venom” (English version)

In the list, it was indicated that Jay, one of the members, was a co-composer for the EP’s main single.

Enhypen’s remix with Bella was also teased on TikTok.

The video first showed members NI-KI, Heeseung, Sunghoon, Jungwon, Jay, Jake and Sunoo. A girl wearing a ponytail and a hoodie later appeared. She had her back facing the camera.

People quickly recognized her as Bella because of her signature style.

Enhypen fans, collectively called Engenes, expressed excitement over the group’s new era in music.

RELATED: Enhypen to be the first K-pop musical act to perform at New Clark City Stadium 

Some of them, however, were not keen on Bella being featured in one of their songs.

They brought up the young singer’s old dance video where she donned a large tattoo resembling the infamous Rising Sun symbol on her arm.

“BTW [by the way] Bella Poarch has a rising sun tattoo which is disgusting and super offensive to us Koreans. It’s like a Nazi swastika,” a fan account said.

The Rising Sun symbol or flag, a sunburst with 16 rays, was used by the Japanese military during World War II.

Bella’s 2020 video in question quickly earned criticism from some South Korean TikTok accounts, who schooled her about the tattoo symbol.

She later apologized for having this tattoo. She expressed it both on the X app and in a new TikTok video.

The incident also triggered an online mudslinging between Filipinos, who defended Bella against derogatory remarks, and Korean accounts on the X app.

READ: A deep dive into #CancelKorea trend and why it could be problematic 

Other fan accounts, meanwhile, ran to Bella’s defense. They pointed out that the young star had already apologized for her past actions.

“Can you please stop hating Bella when she already apologized years ago?” an X user said.

Bella, who boasts 93.4 million followers on TikTok, gained fame for her zoomed-in, seemingly casual dance and lip-syncing content on the video-streaming service.

The 25-year-old internet personality also became known for her songs “Build a B*tch,” “Dolls,” and “Living Hell.” These singles also became viral audio sounds for short-form videos.

In November 2022, she announced a brief hiatus on the internet after filing her divorce, thus surprising both her followers and casual viewers.

READ: Bella Poarch to take social media break after divorce news