On Naming an Album After the Word Phase
MONSTA X's 'The Phase' came out today — the album we introduced last month through its mood sampler.
Last month, introducing this album's mood sampler, we asked how the sound of metal and the word magic would meet, and what the word phase was pointing at.
The album is out today, so it is time to answer.
What we know
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Group | MONSTA X (promoting as five) |
| Album | Mini album 'The Phase' (6 tracks) |
| Release | September 4, 1pm |
| Title track | 'MAGIC' |
| First stage | September 4, KBS2 'Music Bank' |
| Previous domestic album | 'THE X', September 2025 |
The word phase
A phase is one stage within a whole.
The word presupposes a before and an after. There was a previous phase and a next one is coming. It declares that this album is a stage rather than the whole.
The label described it as an album that captures MONSTA X's present most clearly while opening the next chapter to come. Present and next inside one word.
A phase of five
This run is five members. The youngest, I.M, enlisted in February and is serving.
An album released with one member absent has been given the title 'phase'. The title says first that this lineup is not permanent.
Five for now, and this is one stage. The title carries the reading of the lineup too.
From metal to magic
The sound of metal heard first in the mood sampler has settled, in the title track 'MAGIC', into rhythmic guitar and a strong beat. The song likens the moment of being strongly drawn to each other to magic.
It opens with a short rap from Joohoney, builds melody, and reaches Kihyun's high notes in the chorus — a structure Kihyun personally described at the comeback live. Joohoney also took part in writing the lyrics.
Metal is a physical material; magic has no substance. The arrangement runs from the material in the sampler to the immaterial in the album.
Between America and Korea
By domestic releases, the previous album is last September's 'THE X'. In between came two singles and the full-length 'Unfold' under an American label.
A year working in America, then a return home. The title 'Phase' catches that movement too — America as one phase, this as the next is a reading that also holds.
Tonight, like this
Start with 'MAGIC'. The structure from rap to high note is the first thing to check.
Then play last month's mood sampler again. Find where the metal went.
Last, count the five voices. What the title phase means is audible there.
An album that names itself a stage is an album that says there is a next one. 'The Phase'.
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Sources
- 1.[문화일보] 몬스타엑스, 미니앨범 'The Phase' 발매 ↗
NONOL Editorial
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