Hello beautiful people, how are you doing with the quarantine? What are you doing to not get bored?
Today I come to talk to you about music, specifically a band from the world of K-Pop, MONSTA X or 몬스타 엑스 (monseuta-ekseu) in Korea, モ ン ス タ ー ・ エ ッ ク ス (Monsutā ekkusu) in Japan.
MONSTA X: "MON" means "my" in French, "STA" means "star" in English, and "X" refers to the variable existence. Therefore, the name means "My existing star".
CAREER
Pre-Debut
They became known through the project "NO.MERCY", a reality survival show from 10-Diciembre-2014 to 11-Febrero-2015, produced by Mnet and Starship Entertainment to choose the members of the new boy group of the company "Starship Entertainment". The program had the participation of 12 trainees: JooHeon, WonHo, Shownu, KiHyun, HyungWon, MinHyuk, KwangJi, YooSu, MinKyun, YoonHo, #GUN & SeokWon.
The tests were designed to bring out the dance, singing and performance talents of the participants, as a prize the team or the winning participant had the opportunity to publish a single or collaboration with the guest artist. Among the singles released during the program are: Who are You? from YoonHo and SeokWon, Pillow from Soyou and Giriboy with Kihyun and Coach Me from San E and Hyorin with JooHeon.
On January 28th, in the 8th episode of the show, after the fifth participant in the competition was eliminated, I.M a young rapper raised abroad, was introduced as the new trainee who would join "NO.MERCY" to fight for a position in the new male group.
On February 11th, the seven official members of the group called "MONSTA X" were announced through an official image. These would be: JooHeon, WonHo, Shownu, KiHyun, I.M, HyungWon and MinHyuk.
DEBUT
They debuted in May 2015 with the EP Trespass, which was followed by the EP Rush also in 2015, after that the group announced the name of their fandom: “Monbebe”, a word of French origin that can be translated as My babies. At the end of 2015, Monsta X won the most important awards for new stars such as the Best Newcomer award at the K-Music Awards, the Daum Official Fancafe Awards Rising Star Award and the Best Rising Group award. by Simply Kpop.
The following year the group returned with the EP The Clan Part. 1 Lost, first part of the series "The Clan", which was published between 2016 and 2017.
The Clan Part. 1 consisted of six songs, among which stand out: Ex Girl along with Wheein from Mamamoo, All In, Unfair Love and Because of U. After being released the mini album was positioned in the rankings of South Korea, Japan and the United States, entering Billboard's US World Albums at number five.
The Clan Part.2 Guilty, published on October 4th, included the themes: Fighter, Be Quiet, Blind, Queen, White Girl and Roller Coaster, co-written by Jooheon and I.M along with Giriboy, Jam Factory and Mafly, among others. That same day, the music video (MV) for Fighter was released, a topic that has currently exceeded 12 million views on YouTube.
MONSTA X CONSOLIDATION
After their debut, the group managed to consolidate with the single Beautiful, a theme included in The Clan Pt.2.5: The Final Chapter.
A few months later the mini album The Code was published, whose main theme was DRAMARAMA. The video for this theme alludes to time travel and is a storyteller like the videos for All In and Shine Forever, this one focuses on the life of each character and the events that connect them.
The group returned in March 2018, with The Connect: Dejavu, an album that continues with the science fiction concept presented in The Code, the main theme of the new album was Jealousy, a song with a marked sensual and passionate style, that impressed the fans. The video was released on March 26th, 2018 and currently has over 29 million views.
After this we were amazed with Take.1 Are You There a complete album with a powerful adrenaline-packed single Shoot Out, an intense choreography and a somewhat “sinful” message. It achieved #7 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Take.2 We Are Here was released on February 18th, 2019 and it's a continuation of Take.1 Are You There, kind of like the answer you thought you didn't needed but that you expected, it reached #4 on the Billboard 200 chart.
MONSTA X IN THE UNITED STATES
After the world tours, the band received a lot of attention in the country, thus participating in television programs, interviews for news channels, radio programs and even took part in the famous iHeartRadio “Jingle Ball Tour”.
They signed with the California label “Epic Records”, with which they will do all their promotions in English, they also released their first album completely in that language called All About Luv, which fuses sounds, styles and feelings in a sea of songs that express love, disappointment, sensuality and fun; This album has collaborators as Pitbull in the song Beside U, French Montana in Who Do You Love and Will I AM in the remix of Who Do You Love.
Monsta X is one of the K-Pop bands that knows how to transmit a message through their songs, they are geniuses when it comes to putting together the concept on their albums, having visuals and choreographies that express the lyrics and melody, they have earned the love and respect of all the fans worldwide, and despite the fact that one of its members decided to leave the group due to a problem, they have not stopped surprising and being magnificent.
If you still do not dare to listen to them, I recommend you do so, you will not be disappointed.
XOXO Li.
