New Beginings and intro
The members of K-pop group Monsta X entered the interview room as though it were the set of a music video: fully hair-and-makeup-ready, some wearing clothes identical to the attire they wore in the video for one of their latest releases, “Middle of the Night.” Kihyun donned a checkered coat with bright yellow stripes and a green collar, Minhyuk a light brown coat with a dark tiger print. The group had just completed a Q&A on Facebook Live, after more than a week of non-stop interviews and meet-and-greets on both coasts of the U.S. The frenetic pace was par for the course for a K-pop act promoting a new album, though in this case, the group from South Korea had just released something a bit different: its first all-English album, ALL ABOUT LUV. ALL ABOUT LUV is the first all-English album released by a K-pop group in more than a decade — the last one was from trio JYJ in 2010. The new album quickly accomplished an impressive feat, ranking fifth on the Billboard 200 albums chart, making Monsta X only the third K-pop group, after BTS and SuperM, to break the top 10. Members Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Joohoney, I.M and Wonho — who left the group near the end of last year — participated in the recording of the album, whose 11 tracks are uncharacteristically sensual and seductive for a K-pop act. A few days after the release, five of the six members of Monsta X sat down with TIME to discuss, at times via a translator, ALL ABOUT LUV, and the experience of both singing in English and speaking more frankly about what happens in the bedroom. (Rapper Joohoney is on a break, taking time to focus on his mental health due to anxiety, but will return for the group’s North American tour beginning in June.) In the nearly five years since the group was formed in the reality competition show No.Mercy in 2015, Monsta X has carved a space in K-pop with EDM- and hip hop-heavy tracks paired with aggressive choreography. In 2019, the act began to shift gears in its sound. While continuing to release Korean albums with the same explosive energy, Monsta X dropped a number of tracks recorded in English, with a sleeker, smoother vibe. The rollout of these English-language songs led up to the release of ALL ABOUT LUV, which dropped on Valentine’s Day to the warm embrace of “Monbebes” — the name for the group’s fans, derived from the French term for “my baby.”.
A new language introduces a new mode of expression
The group began working on ALL ABOUT LUV back in 2018, when they recorded “Besides U” featuring Pitbull, though “Who Do U Love?,” a collaboration with French Montana, would be the album’s first single. “At that time it was really difficult to record,” Kihyun, the main vocalist whose honeyed falsetto is a standout in the new album, tells TIME of working in English. “But it’s really comfortable now, every song.” A combination of speaking more English during stateside events, covering American pop songs — such as Bruno Mars’ “Versace on the Floor,” performed on a Korean television show in 2018 — and receiving help from youngest member I.M, who has lived in Boston and is fluent, has gradually increased the artists’ comfort working in the language. Releasing an English album doesn’t just mean the words sound different. Vocalist Minhyuk describes a more technical difference in singing the two languages, which can lead to increased expressiveness. “When you speak Korean, there are lots of words that if you pronounce that word, your mouth is closed and it’s not really that smooth — it can sound a bit intense,” he says. “But when you are speaking English words, it goes with the flow. Word and word connects.” Minhyuk says the more flexible pronunciation helps him “give more emotions” to the English words. This can be heard, for instance, as he tenderly delivers the line, “I only feel alive when I don’t feel safe” from the new track “Misbehave.”.
A laid-back, gentler approach to choreography
The emotions expressed in the new album, and the dances that accompany the songs, also mark a change from those of Monsta X’s past tracks. The group’s Korean music is known for its intensity — the latest title tracks “Follow” and “Alligator” are EDM-infused anthems whose choreography features fast-paced stomps, kicks and punches. In contrast, the numbers on ALL ABOUT LUV, as the album’s name suggests, share a laid-back mood expressed by soft and fluid dance moves. The performance for the new song “Middle of the Night” is filled with hip swaying, finger snapping and caressing of the microphone stand. “
