Monsta X on new mini-album, upcoming world tour

By Kim Ji-soo

In a certain sense, the K-pop landscape for boy bands is up for grabs. The prevalent leader BTS seems to be taking a momentary rest. The BigBang members are all enlisted except for youngest member Seungri. Veteran band TVXQ is returning with an album. There is a void rising bands could fill.

Thus enters Monsta X, a seven-member band comprising of Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Jooheon, I.M and Wonho. On March 29, the band released its fifth mini-album “The Connect.”It's a new album just four months after their last.

“We don't find it too difficult to record and prepare for a new album when we find we are confident about the songs and the choreography we do,” Minhyuk said in a round of interviews the band held for the first time since their 2015 debut. The interview was held at the office of the band's agency Starship Entertainment in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul. One of the reasons behind the confidence is its agency has a traction for producing hit bands and stars including former girl band Sistar, and has balladeers such as Junggigo and K.Will.

The new album carries seven songs: “Jealousy,” “Destroyer,” “Fallin,'” “Crazy in Love,” “Lost in the Dream,” “If Only” and “Special.” The main track is “Jealousy,” a punk R&B jam-style song with influences from 1980s pop music.

“At first, I thought Jealousy was slightly more chipper than most Monsta X songs, but I think the song befits us,” said Shownu, the leader. “In fact, we feel the seven songs are all stellar, each standing on its own.”

“My hope is when people listen to the song and watch us perform, they will become jealous of us,” main rapper Jooheon said.

Monsta X, known for powerful-sounding hip-hop music, strikes more of a mainstream tenet with “Jealousy” while the other songs embody their hard-hitting music as well. Two members, Jooheon and Wonho, proudly carry songs written by them:“Special” and “If Only,” respectively. For fans of Monsta X's onslaught of hard beats and trap rap, “Special” provides it. I.M took part in all the rap-making.

The members said the goal with the latest mini-album is topping the music charts. The band topped Worldwide iTunes K-pop chart last year with the mini-album “The Code.”

“It's hard to not to harbor that expectation, I hope we can top the chart once again,” Kihyun said.

Jooheon said he is anticipating reaction videos on YouTube for “Jealousy,” as he monitors them frequently as he did with the song “Destroyer.”

After domestic promotion, the band will first embark on a concert tour to Japan in April. Afterward, the members will start their 2018 World Tour with Seoul as the first venue.

“We will be doing the tour through August,” said I.M, adding they want to travel to as many or more nations than they did in 2017. Unprecedented for a relatively new band, Monsta X toured through 18 cities in 11 nations last year, including Mexico City, Paris and Moscow. Members playfully added the list of cities they would personally like to perform ― for Wonho, South Africa ― should there arise an opportunity. “We hope to grow, and show a more developed Monsta X after the world tour,” I.M said.

The seven members demonstrated a good chemistry among themselves, as they joked and talked about their music dreams. One of the ways they forge team spirit is through late-night snacks as they usually gather in the living room of their home. To burn off those calories, the members work out a lot and have installed workout machines in the living room.

Monsta X aims to follow in the footsteps of BTS, BigBang, TVXQ and 2PM.

“We really respect and like those bands. If we can, we would like to ferret their respective merits and forge it into our strength,” Minhyuk said.

Yet at the same time, the members oozed confidence that they will perform well when going head to head in competition with any bands. A number of K-pop boy bands have dropped albums this week including the male duo band TVXQ and the rising band Stray Kids.

Do they envision individual activities or working in smaller units within the band?

Minhyuk said they do perform in units in concerts but the main priority is to perform together as one. Member Hyungwon, who has acted in a television drama, said he was interested in pursuing acting but that would be more down the road. Kihyun said because the band has filmed numerous videos, he found all seven could act very well.