Song Review:: Monsta X: THE X- N the Front

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  • Release date: 2025 September 01

  • Album tracklist: Do What I Want, N the Front, Savior, Tuscan Leather, Catch Me Now, Fire & Ice

  • Album runtime: 18 minutes

 Happy tenth anniversary, Monsta X! Everyone but Mr. Maknae I.M has returned from the military, and I'm pretty sure he needs to go this year. But! This is also my first review for September, which means that I have now, officially, been doing this for over a year. Whoo! I did have to round that up, mostly because the first and the last tracks on the album are under 2:45, and while I'm a little surprised that they didn't drop something longer for their tenth anniversary, the fact that they've been rereleasing their older songs both re-recorded in Korean and newly released in Japanese, clearly specifically for their tenth anniversary makes the mini album a few months later better. Do What I Want, despite my already having done the review for it, dropped as a pre-release so it technically doesn't count as the first september review.

 The instrumental is like "hot mechanic" as a vibe. I wouldn't necessarily call it industrial because it's not quite sharp, grinding metal or street performance enough, but there's still something of the car or racing to it. A pit stop, if you will. It's a scene from a movie about either Nascar or F1 racing. I'm actually kind of a huge fan of the clapping. This is going to be a really, really good concert song. I'm curious about what the choreography is going to look like for that section.

I really like the swaggy playfulness in the song. I've actually had this on repeat for the past, I don't know, hour or so? The good news is that I'm liking it more the more I'm listening to it, so the longevity of this song might be really good. There isn't really bad news, other than I keep getting distracted by the song while I'm trying to write this. The fun thing is that while normally, I'd probably be thoroughly annoyed by the amount of repetition specifically through the clapping section, it hits just right and is exactly the length of time that doesn't drive me up the wall and out the window. The vocal riffs, I think, are what makes the song work so well for me.

Joohooney's dimples are lethal. Goodness. Okay, so we've got Shownu on a bull, which made me laugh because I was just around a bunch of cowboys this weekend. We've got them performing in water, which is always nice, no matter the group. We've got crimes being committed, which, again, is always fun. This is a good music video. Also, shout out to the guy in the car that went splat. I did laugh a little.



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