MONSTA X gets international recognition once more, this time for its sixth studio album and first all-English release, "All About Luv," recognized as one of Time Magazine's K-Pop albums for 2020.
In the international publication's "The Songs and Albums That Defined K-Pop's Monumental Year in 2020," Time noted the rapid expansion of the Korean music industry into almost all forms of media - including novels, podcasts, and documentaries.
More Than Just a Lingual Treat
For "All About Luv," Time recalled the global noise MONSTA X made, not just for releasing their first English-language album. The K-Pop boy group's Valentine's Day offering also marked the "first all-English album from a K-pop group in more than a decade."
The K-Pop list noted that "All About Luv" was more than just being an English K-Pop album, noting its "sweet tunes, dulcet harmonies, and tender falsettos" across its songs. MONSTA X definitely showed a range of musical styles from upbeat electro-pop bangers like "Love U" and "Someone's Someone" to gentler ballads like "Misbehave" and "She's The One."
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Although the hit boy group under Starship Entertainment has created an image of aggressive and electrifying performances, their sixth studio album overall was a break from the mold. In their Valentine's Day release, the members showed their soft and sensual sides with what Time called "some of K-pop's most suggestive lyrics. The article cited the chorus for "Love U" that went: "I really, really wanna love you/ But I can't say the word I want to/ 'Cause they won't play it on the radio."
"All About Luv" and MONSTA X Going Global
Posting 52,000 album equivalent sales with 50,000 pure album sales, "All About Luv" marked MONSTA X's first album to enter the Billboard 200 album charts in the US - debuting immediately at the fifth spot on the charts dated February 29. The project included international artists French Montana, featured in "Who Do U Love?" The rapper Pitbull appeared in "Beside U." It also involved notable producers such as Connor McDonough from American rock outfit Before You Exit, Swedish DJ Ali Payami, Moldovan record producer Gitty, and Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am.
Prior to its inclusion in the Time Magazine K-Pop list, "All About Luv" was also included among Billboard's 50 Best Albums of 2020 (So Far). The Billboard staff picked the MONSTA X album as among the best albums for the first half of the unpredictable 2020, noting the album's sounds as the recreation of "boy band stylings of Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and 98 Degrees" twenty years later with "modern artists and production." Billboard hailed the MONSTA X appeal as an "effective and often charming throwback" to the musicality of "a bygone era" that dominated the turn of the century. Jason Lipshutz, writing the MONSTA X entry, described the group's approach as being "more reverential than formulaic," lauding "All About Luv" as a "time machine worth returning to in recent months."
The South Korean boy group - Shownu, Jooheon, Minhyuk, Kihyun, IM, and Hyungwon - are still hard at work for their remaining end-of-the-year appearances.
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Listen to MONSTA X's hit album "All About Luv" on Spotify:
