Kicking off the series of comebacks and releases this week is Monsta X, with their latest comeback single, Alligator. It is featured on the second half of their second studio album, Take.2 ‘WE ARE HERE. The first half of the album is titled  Take.1 ‘Are You There?’, which featured their most successful track yet, Shoot Out. Interestingly, the music video for Alligator seems to contain multiple connections that don’t just hint back to Shoot Out but also to other videos. But more on that later.

First of all, Alligator felt like an odd title for a song. The song essentially likens getting someone to fall in love to an alligator’s hold on its prey (adapted from SOOMPI). Looking at the English translations available, I am not 100% sure if that was encapsulated but I guess the idea of it makes sense. The first thing I noticed was the powerfulness of the track. It is quite intense and hence right up Monsta X’s alley. The instrumental takes on that dance heavy sound that is quite similar to their past tracks. And the rapping really gives it that defining punch that leads me to associate the song with Monsta X straight away. Jooheon and I.M do an amazing job with their parts in the song, both on their own during the verses and together during the bridge. The vocals in the song were quite good, as always, with Kihyun’s high note being an excellent peak to the song alongside the duo rappers. But it’s the chorus that leaves me disappointed. The melody and hooks for the entire chorus felt lukewarm at best and didn’t feel like their usual catchy nature.  It might just be because the song was just released and that I haven’t played it enough to get into my mind.

Monsta X matched up the aggressive music video to the powerful song by incorporating alligators, swampland and choreography in water. I think fans would find that final choreography section to be very sexy. The video looked well put together, with the sets looking cool. The other half is what we are more seemingly interested in. We have been promised through the prologue teaser that there is a connection between this and possibly all of their music videos (scenes from previous music videos were included in the teaser). I will be completely honest – I have no idea what is going on. I can tell that there is some connection revolving around the seven sins as this is seen in this video and in the music video for Beautiful. But Lust and Gluttony have been swapped out for Agony and Loneliness. We also see an uprising against the people in charged who banned these sins, similar to the rebellion seen in The Clan series. There is a more obvious connection between Shoot Out and Alligator, with thorny rose branches and Hyungwon sitting on a throne-like structure featured in both videos. What this all means in too cryptic for me to work out, so feel free to comment below with theories!

We don’t see too much choreography in the music video. But from what we could see, I thought it looked really cool. Monsta X goes hard once again with their performances! I do want to know what moves they will pull off during the rap sections as those seemed to be the most intense parts. So, obviously, I will return in due time with an update.

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10 [To Be Updated]
Overall Rating – 7.8/10