MONSTA X have returned with a music video for their brand-new English-language single titled ‘One Day’, and the K-pop boyband recently sat down with NME over video call to tell us more about it.
The six-member group – comprising Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Joohoney and I.M – have been hard at work putting out new releases over the past few months. Their Japanese record ‘Flavors Of Love’ and Korean mini-album ‘One Of A Kind’ dropped within weeks of each other in May and June respectively, followed by special single ‘Kiss or Death in late July.
Now, the boyband have the fresh single ‘One Day’ to add to their growing list of 2021 releases – this time in English. “The song is in line with our own emotions, so we tried to be as genuine as possible when singing it,” Joohoney says of the upbeat, yet pensive track, with lyrics like: ”They say hindsight’s 20/20 / maybe I’ll, maybe I’ll see it one day, one day, one day I will”.
“We pretended to be a heartbroken person and we concentrated on the mood of the song,” I.M adds. “Our Korean albums are very energetic and powerful, and [so ‘One Day’] shows a different side to MONSTA X.”
With the experience gained from their first full-length English album ‘All About Luv’ in 2020, Minhyuk says he found ‘One Day’ “easier to record” this time around. He pointed out some of the nuances of singing in different languages, such as “smoother” pronunciation in English as compared to their Japanese songs, which he called more “rigid” and “staccato”.
As I.M elaborates, “We pay attention to the pronunciation, to make the delivery very clear. And I think our vocalisations change [depending on] which language we’re singing [in].””
‘One Day’ also marks MONSTA X’s first official release without leader Shownu, who’s currently in the military. “It felt empty at first, but we’re working harder to fill his gap,” Kihyun shares, “And we miss him so much.”
“It’s lonely,” Minhyuk says, who then follows up with this fun fact, which was met with raucous laughter from the other members: “I always use Shownu as a body pillow [because he] looks like [one]… and my body pillow is gone.”
When asked what they would do if they had ‘One Day’ to themselves, their answers revolved around simple pleasures: playing games, watching Netflix, sleeping and “communicat[ing] with Monbebe”. Though the group regularly reach out to their fans through social media and their official fan cafe, I.M observes that there is a difference when they’re able to do so at their own leisure. “It’s kinda different when you have [lots of time versus] when you’re running out of time, that’s a different mood.”
For Kihyun, who recently released a cover of ‘Little Bit Of Love’ by English singer-songwriter Tom Grennan, he still hopes the group will soon be able to do the one thing they’ve not been able to since the COVID-19 pandemic started. “If we can meet our fans,” he says, “We’d want to.”
MONSTA X’s new English single ‘One Day’ is out now via Starship Entertainment.