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Monsta X

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Monsta X (Korean: 몬스타엑스; stylized as MONSTA X) is a South Korean boy group formed through the reality survival program No.Mercy under Starship Entertainment. The group is currently composed of six members: Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Joohoney and I.M, with former member Wonho having left the group in October 2019.

The group debuted on May 14, 2015 with their first EP Trespass. In March 2017, Monsta X released their first studio album and the final part of The Clan series The Clan Pt. 2.5: The Final Chapter. Since 2018, the group had four Japanese singles certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, and since 2019, eight of their Korean albums and extended plays had been certified platinum by the Korea Music Content Association. In 2020, the group's first English album All About Luv, ranked number five on the US Billboard 200 and number seven on the US Rolling Stone Top 200.

Since debut, they had been known for their aggressive style, combining elements of hip hop, EDM and pop. This aggressive style with "tracks centred around loud, clattering, electronic instrumentals, vicious rap verses, and striking vocals" had also been influential across the fourth generation of K-pop, along with breaking gender norms before it was a trend. Additionally, they also obtained the modifier of "Next Generation Beast Idol".

2014–2015: No.Mercy and debut

The group was formed, as the result of the survival program called No.Mercy, which was launched by Starship Entertainment and Mnet in December 2014. Through the course of ten episodes, twelve trainees (thirteen after I.M joined the competition on episode 8) competed against each other through various performances and were ranked from one to twelve, with one being the best and twelve being the worst. They also have to wear a nametag with their ranking, which changed following the challenges and performances set by the judges. For the show, the participants worked directly with artists from Starship Entertainment, including Hyolyn, K.Will, Mad Clown, and Soyou, as well as other artists, such as Rhymer, San E, Giriboy, and Genius Nochang. These artists also served as judges for ranking the contestants. For the concluding mission, the nine remaining members formed into three groups of three to compete and the members of Monsta X were selected from these nine in the final episode as the seven members of the group: Shownu, Wonho, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Jooheon, and I.M.

No.Mercy also led to the 2014 spin-off web series Deokspatch, which also began airing in December, which was meant to showcase a more casual and lighthearted side to the competition in order for people to get to know the trainees better. It also continued as Deokspatch X on May 14, 2015 and as Deokspatch X² in October 2015. These seasons focused on the newly formed Monsta X participating in variety show activities.

The group's name "Monsta X" contains the double meaning of "Monsters conquering the K-pop scene" and "My star" (Mon means "My" in French), then X symbolizes an unknown existence. Their fandom name "Monbebe" is also French for "my baby". Jooheon, Hyungwon, and I.M also released their song "Interstellar", which was produced for the final mission by Yella Diamond on February 12, 2015.

Monsta X made their debut with the release of their first extended play Trespass on May 14, 2015. "Trespass" is produced by Rhymer and described as a "strong and edgy track that reflects Monsta X’s unique character". Trespass includes seven different tracks. Jooheon was the most involved member in the production of the mini-album and composed several songs, including "One Love", "Steal Your Heart", and "Blue Moon". I.M was also involved in the rap making of several songs. Kihyun and Wonho contributed song lyrics for the EP.

On September 1, the group returned with their second extended play titled Rush. The title track of the same name is described as a song that represents their signature style, that produced by Giriboy. Keone Madrid choreographed the dance and Joo Hee-sun directed the music video. The mini-album contains six tracks produced by Mad Clown, Crybaby and Rhymer. Jooheon also took part in making the rap for five out of the six tracks, while fellow member I.M was involved in four songs, including the title track "Rush". In 2015, they made their first U.S. appearance performing at KCON 2015 in Los Angeles. They also received the "Next Generation Asian Artist" award at 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards and the "1theK Performance Award" at 2015 Melon Music Awards.

2016: Chinese ventures and first solo concert

In January, the group released a new variety program titled Monsta X Right Now!. They also appeared in the Chinese web drama Good Evening, Teacher, receiving positive responses from local viewers.

In April, the group participated on a Chinese survival program called Heroes of Remix, which was aired in June on Jiangsu Television. The show holds a remix competition in the program and each one of the participants receive a lesson from its assigned mentor and perform its stage by remixing representative Chinese music.

On May 9, the group pre-released the song "Ex Girl" featuring Wheein of Mamamoo. On May 18, Monsta X's third extended play The Clan Pt. 1 Lost with the lead single "All In" was released. The music video was directed by filmmaker Shin Dong-keul, a former winner at the Canada International Film Festival who is known for his dreamy and euphoric style in producing music videos. The EP debuted at number five on Billboard World Albums chart and stayed for two consecutive weeks on it. It is also the first part of The Clan series.

In July, Monsta X held their first solo concert The First Live "X-Clan Origins" from July 16 to July 17, which sold out in five minutes.

In August, Starship Entertainment formed a project group with Monsta X and their label-mates Cosmic Girls as part of a promotional project with KT. As part of the project group, they released the single "Do Better", with an accompanying music video.

On October 4, Monsta X released their fourth extended play and second part of The Clan series titled The Clan Pt. 2 Guilty alongside the title track "Fighter".

In December, the group was awarded the "Best of Next Male Artist" award at 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

2017: First studio album, Japanese debut and first world tour
In January, the group launched its own variety show called Monsta X-Ray through JTBC2.

In March, they released their first studio album and the final part of The Clan series titled The Clan Pt. 2.5: The Final Chapter with the title track "Beautiful". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard World Albums chart and at number ten on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, while the title track "Beautiful" debuted and peaked at number four on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.

On May 17, Monsta X made their debut in Japan under Universal Music's new label Mercury Records Tokyo with their first Japanese single album, which included Japanese versions of "Hero" and "Stuck". "Hero" reached number two on the weekly Oricon Singles Chart, number one on the Tower Records chart, and number three on the weekly Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, making an impressive debut from a foreign artist.

On June 19, Monsta X released a repackaged version of The Clan Pt. 2.5: The Final Chapter called Shine Forever, which features the original songs from the album and two extra songs "Shine Forever" and "Gravity", as well as the music video for "Shine Forever". The title song "Shine Forever" combines future bass and hip-hop styles and includes rap lyrics written by members Jooheon and I.M. The group also began their first world tour Beautiful in June.

Monsta X aired the second season of Monsta X-Ray in July. Monsta X also released a summer song "Newton" on July 27. The music video for the song was produced by Yoo Sung-kyun of SunnyVisual.

On August 23, their second Japanese single "Beautiful" was released. The single album contains the Japanese versions of "Beautiful" and "Ready or Not". It reached number one on Oricon's daily chart.

On November 7, their fifth extended play titled The Code with title track "Dramarama" was released. On the day of the mini-album release, they held a comeback show at Jangchung Arena. Following this, on November 14, they won their first music broadcast award through SBS MTV's The Show with "Dramarama".

On December 18, the group released the special single "Lonely Christmas" as a surprise holiday release for their fans. It was written, produced, and co-composed by Jooheon.

2018: Second world tour, Japanese album and Take.1 Are You There?
On January 13, they served as torchbearers on the first day of the Seoul leg of the Olympic torch relay in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. On January 31, they released their third Japanese single album, which included their first original Japanese track "Spotlight" and a Japanese version of their previously released Korean track "Shine Forever". They had previously performed this song in Monsta X Christmas Party 2017. They also opened a collaboration cafe for a limited time from January 19 to February 18 at Shinjuku Box.

In February, the group announced their second world tour The Connect, with the first show held in Seoul at Jang Chung Arena on May 26 and 27.

On March 26, the group officially released their sixth mini-album The Connect: Dejavu, containing seven tracks with the lead title track "Jealousy", produced by Hayden Bell, Shane Simmons, and Harry Sommerdahland, and the songs "If Only", co-written by Wonho, and "Special", co-written by Jooheon. In this comeback, they won another music broadcast award through SBS MTV's The Show.

On April 25, they released their first Japanese studio album Piece with the lead title track "Puzzle", including the songs from their previous Japanese single albums and another four additional songs. Piece reached number one on Tower Records' chart all store, number three on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart and Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart. On April 27, they started their first Japan tour in Nagoya.

On August 1, Monsta X released a music video for their Japanese comeback "Livin' It Up", while the single album was released on September 12.

On October 22, Monsta X released part one of their second studio album Take.1 Are You There?, with the title track "Shoot Out". On November 9, the group released an English version of "Shoot Out".

2019: Take.2 We Are Here, international expansion and Wonho's departure
On January 20, the group released the second part of their second studio album Take.2 We Are Here along with its lead single "Alligator".

In February, Jooheon announced that he changed his stage name for English activities to Joohoney.

In March, Monsta X collaborated with music producer Steve Aoki for the track "Play It Cool" and its English version.

In April, their agency Starship Entertainment, announced their third world tour We Are Here with twelve countries and eighteen cities, making it their largest to date.

On May 28, Monsta X signed with Epic Records for their English language recordings and distribution outside South Korea. On June 14, Monsta X released a new English single titled "Who Do U Love?" featuring French Montana. On September 20, they released another English single titled "Love U" and "Who Do U Love?" remix version by will.i.am.

On October 4, Monsta X released another English single titled "Someone's Someone" co-written by Before You Exit members and Monsta X's Shownu. On October 28, the group released their seventh EP Follow: Find You containing eight tracks with the lead singles "Find You" and "Follow".

On October 31, Starship Entertainment publicly declared that member Wonho would be departing following recent allegations of drug use and owed money, and that the company intends to "hold legal liability" for "malicious and distorted claims" about him. The fans expressed their disapproval and requested of Starship Entertainment that he be reinstated in the group.He was subsequently cleared of drug charges in March 2020 and was signed with a subsidiary of Starship Entertainment to pursue a solo career.

On December 4, the group performed at the 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards at the Nagoya Dome in Japan. On December 19, they released "Magnetic", a collaboration with the Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra, with Yatra singing in Spanish, and Monsta X singing in English and Spanish. They also attended and performed at the MDL Beast Festival in Saudi Arabia, performing thirteen songs including performing "Play It Cool" alongside Steve Aoki.

2020: All About Luv, virtual concerts and Fatal Love
On January 11, Joohoney announced that he would take a break from the group to focus on his mental health.

On February 14, Monsta X released their sixth studio album and first all-English album All About Luv. It debuted and peaked at number five on the US Billboard 200 and at number seven on the US Rolling Stone Top 200.

On March 30, they released their seventh Japanese single "Wish on the Same Sky", ahead of the physical release of the single album of the same name on April 15. Upon release, it ranked number one on the weekly Tower Records chart and number seven on the weekly Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart. It also ranked number one overall for the first half of 2020 on the Tower Records chart.

In April, Monsta X appeared on MTV Unplugged at Home, performing "Beside U" and "You Can't Hold My Heart".

On May 26, the group released their eighth EP Fantasia X, with the lead single "Fantasia". Prior to this comeback, Joohoney had already rejoined promotions with them and thus, they were a six-member group for the promotion of "Fantasia".

Monsta X had announced their fourth world tour, but it was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. Unable to perform at in-person concerts, the group participated in a live-streamed KCON event K:CONTACT 2020. They also announced that they would hold a live-streamed concert Live From Seoul With Luv. It was initially scheduled for July 25, but then rescheduled to August 8, to allow Shownu to recover from the unexpected surgery he had undergone. They held their concert through the music streaming platform LiveXLive and performed several songs from their English-language album All About Luv, as well as several from their most recent Korean EP Fantasia X and several older title tracks.

On November 2, Monsta X released their third studio album Fatal Love, with the lead single "Love Killa". On November 21, they released "How We Do" as an OST for the animated movie The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, alongside Snoop Dogg.

On December 16, Monsta X released their eighth Japanese single album, which included the Japanese versions of their title tracks "Love Killa" and "Fantasia".

2021: Shownu's enlistment, The Dreaming and first film
In January, the group was also announced to be one of the artists featuring on NCSoft's new platform Universe, beginning with an original series called Area 51: The Code.

They also released a new Japanese single album on March 10, with the lead single "Wanted" and another original Japanese track "Neo Universe". "Wanted" was pre-released ahead of the physical album release on February 10, and the music video was released on February 13.Following the release of "Wanted", they announced the release of their third Japanese studio album Flavors of Love, released on May 5, which includes their Japanese singles released since 2020, as well as five new Japanese tracks.

In May, they announced the release of their ninth EP One of a Kind and its lead single "Gambler", set for June 1. Starship Entertainment also announced that Shownu will take a hiatus from the group and will not participate in the group's upcoming promotional activities due to resurfacing issues of retinal detachment.

On June 15, Monsta X's American manager Eshy Gazit announced the launch of a new label venture Intertwine in partnership with BMG. The label's first two artists were Monsta X and Wonho. The venture also finalized a separate distribution deal, in partnership with Starship Entertainment, for Monsta X's two upcoming Korean releases, as well as confirming their second English-language album in 2021.

Shownu enlisted for his mandatory military service on July 22. He will serve as public service worker due to previous surgery for left eye retinal detachment.

On July 26, Monsta X released the promotional single "Kiss or Death" through Universe Music for the mobile application Universe.

In September, the group announced their new single "One Day", which was released on September 10.

On November 19, the group released their tenth EP No Limit with the lead single "Rush Hour". It was the group's first release to not feature Shownu since his enlistment.

On December 10, Monsta X released their second English-language album The Dreaming, which includes their previously released single "One Day" and nine new tracks. They released a documentary film/concert film Monsta X: The Dreaming on December 8 in South Korea, and on December 9 and 11 in seventy countries worldwide. It contains interviews with the members, clips from their U.S. activities, special stages, and footage of the group's six-year journey.

2022: U.S. Tour and contract renewals
On March 23, Monsta X announced their eleventh EP Shape of Love, with the lead single "Love", to be released on April 11. However, the group members had tested positive for COVID-19, and as a result, their comeback was postponed until April 26.

Their U.S. tour, previously postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was rescheduled for May and June with stops in nine cities. The group also appeared in the KCON event KCON 2022 Premiere.

On May 9, Starship Entertainment announced that members Shownu, Kihyun, and Hyungwon had already decided to renew their contracts, while members Minhyuk, Joohoney, and I.M had discussed renewing their contracts. On August 8, Starship Entertainment released a statement announcing that all the members, except I.M, renewed their contracts. He decided not to renew his contract with the agency but will still continue to participate in the group's future plans.

On July 7, Monsta X released the promotional single "If with U" through Universe Music for the mobile application Universe. On July 21, they also released a new single titled "Late Night Feels" in collaboration with famous Dutch DJ Sam Feldt.

On August 12, Starship Entertainment announced that Monsta X will hold the No Limit Tour in Seoul for three days on September 2 to 4, continuing the heat of their U.S. tour.

On September 24, the group performed in the LALAPA K-CONCERT, held at Union Hall in Bangkok, Thailand.

On October 7, they participated in the 2022 Korean Culture Festival, held at Seoul Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

On October 22, Monsta X was supposed to headline Nickelodeon's NickFest: The Messiest Music Festival Ever, to be held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, but it was cancelled due to "current market conditions". They were supposed to headline the new mega concert KAMP LA 2022, a joint production from KAMP Global with the partnership brand Eventim Live Asia, on October 16 at the same location, but their appearance, alongside several other artists, was cancelled due to "visa issues".