MONSTA X (Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Jooheon, I.M) has expanded their global presence with the release of their third U.S. studio album, 'Unfold'.
According to Starship Entertainment, MONSTA X released 'Unfold' on November 3rd at midnight across global music platforms.
The album 'Unfold' signifies 'unfolding what was folded', revealing stories MONSTA X has kept for the past decade. It candidly explores themes of wounds, growing pains, fading love, and inner voices previously unknown even to themselves.
The album opens with the title track 'heal', which questions the meaning of 'true recovery' in a relationship that repeats hurt without letting go. The song features a powerful and grand sound, with a restrained introduction leading to an emotionally explosive chorus, creating an impressive crescendo.
The album includes a total of 10 tracks, each capturing different temperatures of love. The pre-released single 'baby blue' reflects on the remnants of fading love, while 'growing pains' calmly confesses the passage of ten years. The album continues with 'this!', capturing sensory excitement, 'before you met me', depicting the time spent trying to change each other in love, and 'glass half empty', which likens the inner self exhausted for others to an 'empty glass'.
In the latter half, the retro synth-pop track 'main attraction' shifts the mood by regaining confidence. The narrative expands with 'enemies with benefits', which elegantly portrays a relationship where love and hate intersect, and 'on our way', capturing the moment when excitement begins anew. The album concludes with 'sorry to myself', delivering a message of self-forgiveness as it apologizes to oneself rather than the other in the face of parting.
Through 'Unfold', MONSTA X fully unveils their decade-long journey for the first time. The album is expected to be a work that encapsulates deeply human stories, depicting an emotional journey of facing wounds, experiencing growing pains, and ultimately returning to oneself after exhaustion and recovery.
Ahead of the release, MONSTA X shared a teaser for the 'heal' music video on their official SNS on November 1st. The video features members holding nails, hammers, and threads, seemingly confronting their own wounds. It concludes with a scene of nails being driven into a heart-shaped object, heightening curiosity about its meaning and the full video.
MONSTA X's new U.S. album 'Unfold' is available on global music sites, and the full music video will be released today at 4 PM (KST).
Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia Reporter one@tenasia.co.kr