‘THE X’ Reviewed: What Gives MONSTA X Their X Factor?

A decade into their career, MONSTA X are at a new creative peak with their new EP THE X.

Starship Entertainment

MONSTA X, it should be said, are thirst trappers' final boss. They’re pros at this. “We're not ashamed. We've done a lot of sexual items, like harnesses and chains,” I.M once told GQ UK about how comfortable they are donning provocative stage costumes. By 2020, as the group gained more creative control over their releases, their lyrical imagery grew more explicit too. On “Love Killa”, for example, I.M rapped, “I want you to eat me like a main dish”. “Can you blame me for thinking about you naked?” they asked on a track from their second English language album, The Dreaming. Yet the MONSTAs take on sexuality never sounded sleazy. If anything, there has always been a sense of camp in their music.  

Nowhere is this better represented than on their new EP, THE X’s, pre-release track “Do What I Want”. In the music video, the group takes a macho, almost cartoonish, approach to sexuality. The members synchronize their push-ups and flex their muscles at the gym, then wash cars wearing angel wings. What’s striking about this imagery is how playfully they poke fun at their public personas. “Is this what you want?” I.M, who co-wrote the track with rapper JOOHOENY, asks in the opening line. Of course, he knows that this is why you’re here. 

At Waterbomb Busan this week, the festival where male idols take off their shirts and get wet, the group’s leader SHOWNU ripped off his shirt and watched as the audience descended into chaos. (This is one of many reasons why Waterbomb served as a reminder of why it’s nice to have our leader back.) 

Enlistment eras often trigger commercial slumps, but SHOWNU’s enlistment didn’t slow MONSTA X down. If anything, the MONSTAs became more adventurous, pushing further into themes of sexual freedom and autonomy. Some of their best music emerged during this period, including career-defining tracks such as “Lone Ranger” and “Beautiful Liar”. Helmed by the creative direction of the group’s rap unit, I.M and JOOHONEY, the group leaned on a maximalist approach: their lyrics were punchy and imaginative; they attacked a beat like a boxer aggressively punching his opponent even after he’s won.

In May, with SHOWNU back from the military, the group released “NOW PROJECT Vol 1” with re-recordings of their best songs from the enlistment period.THE X serves as SHOWNU’s first comeback since his enlistment in the military from 2021 to 2023, and if anything, the album is MONSTA X at a new creative peak. JOOHONEY and I.M contributed production work or songwriting to all songs but one, and their influence is critical to this new era of MONSTA X. The album’s lead single, “N the Front”, which features a Dem Jointz production, is classic MX: It’s an aggressive pop track that lets JOOHONEY and I.M claw their way through several ferocious bars, and it gives the vocal line ample opportunity to shine. “N the Front” is the kind of track made for a world tour with the chorus’ refrain - “I wanna see you in the front” – obviously being written to be a call to action for Monbebes. 

The music on The X is always fun, campy even, and reinforces that the MONSTAs do best when they’re left to their own impulses. The EP is also, as you might have come to expect, freaky in some places. Take the B-side “Tuscan Leather”, which features some of the raunchiest lyrics on the album courtesy of I.M: 

“Ima take you to my house, don’t hide it

Face up 

Your trembling eyes are driving me insane

When I move it, I know you feel the freedom.” 

The title plays on the “perfect fit” of the Tuscan leather the members wear, but it also works as an analogy for the group itself—MONSTA X only makes sense when all the pieces lock together. You can see this best in the differences betewen the group's vocal line: SHOWNU, MINHYUK, HYUNGWON, and KIHYUN. Perhaps most naturally suited for pop music is HYUNGWON, whose dewy, honey vocals can fit on any track. By contrast, SHOWNU’s soulful voice is so rich, so full of vibrato that I’m always surprised how he can make each track his own. At the same time, KIHYUN is such a powerful vocalist that he rarely has to exert much force to own a song.

I would argue, though, that the most underrated vocalist in MONSTA X is MINHYUK. In early 2021, MINHYUK released a trot song that emphasized his gravely, distinctive voice, but on tracks like “Tuscan Leather”, JOOHONEY and Ye-Yo! have found a way to draw out his strengths as a vocalist. He has, in my opinion, the most emotion and color in his vocals. Separated, the vocalists might not sound as if they’d blend well together. And yet, MONSTA X thrives on this unexpected creative alchemy. 

MONSTA X’s company Starship Entertainment, too, should be given credit for releasing some of the most imaginative music of the year. THE X comes after CRAVITY’s thrilling rebrand, Dare to Crave, an album where the company, again, let members be the driving creative force behind the album. Simultaneously, THE X is being released alongside IVE’s Secret, where the album packaging is a literal blind box. In a year when K-pop companies are fighting for relevancy, I can’t think of a better example of a company leveling up and not being afraid to take a risk than Starship. 

For all of their creativity, JOOHONEY and I.M have rarely used MONSTA X as a vehicle to channel their interior worlds. But on the closing track, “Fire & Ice,” the polarity in the lyrics could just as easily describe the members themselves. MONSTA X’s defining strength—their true X factor—is the way contrasting personalities and voices fuse into something greater, together. For years, MONSTA X was regarded as an underdog in the K-pop industry. Now, a decade later, they are seen as leaders for groups who refuse conformity. That, in itself, is a victory.