In 2025, K-pop’s “beast idols” MONSTA X celebrated a decade with THE X, whose title is a nod to the group’s name and to the Roman numeral for 10. The six-track mini album represented a long-awaited reunion for members SHOWNU, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, JOOHONEY and I.M, following a multi-year hiatus due to mandatory military service. Because of this, THE X isn’t just an album—it’s a musical bridge between MONSTA X’s boundary-breaking past and their future. “Time has passed, and it’s already been over a decade,” maknae I.M raps, in an interplay of Korean and English, on the Brazilian funk club banger “Do What I Want”. “We never slack off, the six of us together are never afraid.” Rapper JOOHONEY led composition for the forward-looking album opener, which acts as a reintroduction to MONSTA X’s focused, devil-may-care persona. The third-generation idol group have taken an active part in writing their own music since their 2015 debut out of the survival show No.Mercy. Other “self-produced” tracks on THE X include the I.M-led “Savior”, a sexy pop earworm about an obsessive love, and the Hyungwon-led “Fire & Ice”, an R&B-tinged pop track about two opposites coming together. Lead single “N the Front” has prolific American producer Dem Jointz behind the scenes. The track blends swaggering, rap-driven zigs with rock-fuelled vocal zags. While it’s the only track without a MONSTA X member on the writing team, it’s a song that simultaneously evokes the group’s hip-hip idol origins and the eclectic musical maturity they’ve developed in a decade of performance.