Monsta X have ascended from rookie K-Pop idols to accomplished, award-winning artists and, alongside their ever-growing fandom, Monbebe, they’re poised for a breakout year.
Since debuting in 2015 with swaggering rap and melodic harmonies on Trespass, Rush and Hero, Monsta X’s five vocalists (Shownu, Kihyun, Minhyuk, Wonho and Hyungwon) and two rappers (Jooheon and I.M) have gone on to reconfigure genres from RnB to EDM, to anthemic rock to fit their boisterous style and fierce choreography.
The progression is evident on their recent EP, The Code, with seven diverse tracks that traverse funk to trop-house to ballad. It propelled Monsta X on to receive a first-ever win on one of Korea’s weekly chart music TV shows, while in January they took home gongs from the country’s prestigious Golden Disc Awards and Seoul Music Awards, which Wonho said, ‘feels great, because it’s like a stepping stone for what we want to achieve in 2018.’
Despite having flown from Seoul to London for a mere day (and one-off show) before returning home, they were in high spirits when they met Metro.co.uk, with Kihyun, the sarkiest of the seven, Wonho’s effervescent energy and I.M’s bone-dry humour buoying MONSTA X into noisy laughter during an exclusive chat where they reflected on a hectic few months, and what comes next.
We have to begin at your memorable win for Dramarama. You mentioned going through hardships as one reason for the high emotion, can you elaborate on that?
Wonho: It wasn’t like hardships coming from busy schedule or not reaching a goal we’d set, but rather that the fans had some kind of expectations. We didn’t really express it out loud, but always felt sorry because we always lost the win on a slight difference (in the vote). Finally with Dramarama, all thanks to our fans, we made it, and that’s why we cried.
This was your first win since debuting – had you almost given up hope?
I.M: We love music so we didn’t care about the temptation of winning so much, it was like, ‘some day’. But at The Show, the line-up was Block B, our team, and EXID. Powerful teams. So we didn’t expect it. I was standing next to Hyungwon and talking to him, going, ‘are you thinking about it?’, and he was like, ‘hell no’, and then bam! But we are just happy about playing music.
The Code is an incredibly strong EP. Do you feel like you’ve matured with this release?
Kihyun: Yes. (laughs) The album has various genres so it was quite new in terms of singing, for example, Tropical Night, for both vocal and rap, was quite unfamiliar.
I.M: But in my case, I think we didn’t just become very artistic just on this album, we’ve been trying to show different appearances since our debut.
Jooheon, your lyrics from In Time mention writing ‘down the emotions in many notebooks’. Do you keep a diary?
Jooheon: Yup. A diary and my laptop. I write about my emotions, like today is sad, today is happy, and, I think, everything can be anything. All my songs are personal and from my own experience.
Wonho, you used a film (About Time) as inspiration for From Zero, so I’m intrigued by the different perspectives you’re both coming from to create equally poignant tracks.
Wonho: Personal experiences are important, of course, but it’s difficult to experience those emotions while we’re working. So we read or watch films and, based on those secondhand/indirect emotions, we inject ourselves into those moments and write those into lyrics.
When members are writing music does everyone else hear the progress, and share an opinion?
I.M: Yeah, we all do that.
Kihyun: Minhyuk is really candid and honest about feedback.
Jooheon: Kihyun is too!
Kihyun: Why I’m so critical is because if I give good feedback, it gets reflected in a good way on the final song.
We’ve had The Clan trilogy and The Code – what’s next? There’s supposedly a new album in May, right?
I.M: That’s top secret.
But Wonho did tease this to Monbebe recently. Let me ask then, will there be another trilogy?
Jooheon: Maybe, maybe. Ah, top secret!
Kihyun: This is the first time I’m hearing this.
Wonho: Didn’t we already say that The Code is the beginning of a new series?
Jooheon: Maybe.
Kihyun: (looking baffled) Maybe?
Kihyun, are you sure you’re in Monsta X?
Kihyun: Maybe. Ha!
Wonho: It’s not maybe. It will probably be a trilogy.
Minhyuk: So that is a maybe!
Wonho: Well, it is official, The Code’ is the beginning of the new series.
Monsta X swapped parts when performing Fighter recently and fans got to hear I.M sing, plus his cover of Dean’s Instagram has dropped. Where have you been hiding this talent, I.M?
I.M: This is a very embarrassing question for me! Actually I’m not really practicing at singing, I’m just interested in it. I was trying to show the audience something that would shock them or that they didn’t expect, so that’s the reason I chose Wonho’s part.
How do the vocalists feel about that – he’s coming for you!
I.M: No! No! (his bandmates begin laughing)
Kihyun: We’re on different levels (grins), so I’m not worried. There’s something you can try and do well… and something you can try but still can’t do well.
Wonho: I was surprised because I.M, and Jooheon as well, have a very wide range.
Hyungwon: You know, there’s many rappers out there these days where I certainly feel the boundary between vocal and rapper is getting blurry.
Minhyuk, you recently returned, in one piece, from filming Law Of The Jungle in Chile. What’s something you’ll remember about doing this reality show?
Minhyuk: It was my first time to be in that kind of a really big TV show, so that was a challenge in itself. So the whole experience – the heat, the hunger, the pain and difficulty… it was the first time I’ve ever gone through that in my life!
Last summer, Bam Bam Bam was a solo stage for you to flex as a DJ, Hyungwon. Since, it’s been released as a digital single, so what’s next from you?
Hyungwon: Because Bam Bam Bam was quite strong, nowadays I’m trying to explore something new. It was quite dubstep-ish before, now it’s softer, more tropical and house. But not like Tropical Night, slightly different.
Monsta X have been together nearly three years. Does it feel that long or has been a bit of a blur at times?
Kihyun: I think time passes really fast, so when I’m listening to In Time or From Zero, there’s parts of those lyrics – like, what if we could go back in time or stop it – that really touches me. What if I could go back with all these thoughts and experiences…
Wonho: I don’t want to go back with all these thoughts, I only want to take my visuals. Because, as time went by, my appearance got better somehow. (laughs)
Final question – you’re so busy it seems you barely have time to think, so when you’re about to fall asleep, what do you think about? Work or more personal moments?
Jooheon: The fans.
Kihyun: I don’t think about anything…
Wonho: Ultimately, Jooheon is right. Because for the fans we finished the schedule, or we were working at studio. So all of the process, it’s all for fans.
MORE: BTS reveals concept for their next album after Seoul Music Awards win
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