JOOHONEY (MONSTA X) – KPOPREVIEWED

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JOOHONEY (aka JOOHEON) of MONSTA X kicks off the year with his first solo comeback since his 2023 debut with Freedom and the mini-album Lights. And he comes in swinging with his new single Sting featuring legendary boxer Muhammad Ali (through an infamous audio clip at the start of the song). In the lead-up to the release of his second solo mini-album, 光 (Insanity), he also pre-released the single Push, featuring labelmate REI from IVE.

Hip-hop tracks aren’t my usual preference in KPOP, and STING leans heavily into the genre, which works against it for me. That said, I appreciated the intensity that JOOHONEY aims to exude in the song. His rapping, though shouty at times, had good flow and convincingly delivers STING‘s aggressive tone, supported by abrasive synth work in the instrumental. Ultimately, though, my issue with STING goes beyond genre bias. I expected more from STING‘s chorus. The centrepiece, meant to be the hookiest part of a song, relies on a flute-like synth that doesn’t fill out the background as well as it should have, and JOOHONEY’s repetition of Muhammad Ali’s infamous line “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee“. As such, I felt the chorus was uneventful and unimaginative. especially since others have been doing a similar thing with their chorus (though better). Elsewhere, the verses and bridge flew by, leaving little impression beyond the aggressiveness mentioned earlier.

The music video sees JOOHONEY channel the aggressive, intense nature of STING into the visual media of the comeback. We see JOOHONEY deliver the song with some head nodding, feeling the song’s vibes. We see him perform some choreography with the dancers. Honestly, it isn’t bad. But the most impressive parts of the video don’t involve him. Rather, it involves the bee that is the subject of the song – the CGI butterfly turning into a bee, the massive bee that sits behind the rapper at one point, and the bee that JOOHONEY spits out at high speed, enough to break the lens.

The choreography for this comeback is exactly how you imagine in it. Just as the music video does, the performance for STING portrays an aggressive, fierce side of JOOHONEY. I don’t think it is the moves, though. I actually put it down to his stage presence, which really leaves an impression as he performs the song, with the dancers helping fill any gaps along the way.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.2/10

JOOHONEY, one of two rappers from the male group MONSTA X, made his return to the stage a few weeks back in May 2023 as a solo artist with the single FREEDOM and the mini-album Lights. JOOHONEY has previously release solo music before in a form of five mixtapes since 2015, but this new release is being dubbed as his official ‘solo debut’. This makes JOOHONEY as MONSTA X’s third member to release ‘solo music ‘debut’ as a solo artist, following the likes of fellow MONSTA X rapper I.M in 2021 (with God Damn) and main vocalist KIHYUN in 2022 (with VOYAGER).

FREEDOM unexpectedly embraces multiple sides of JOOHONEY and it a stunning display of what JOOHONEY has to offer. Given his main position in MONSTA X is a rapper, I kind of expected him to gear towards that typical hip-hop genre with the title track. But I am all for surprises, as FREEDOM is definitely one in itself and definitely is full of them. Opening up FREEDOM is a spectacular showing of honey-like vocals from the rapper over a beautiful piano backing. A minute or so of this beautiful vocal/piano piece, FREEDOM diverts itself to that expected territory of rap and hip-hop. During this segment, JOOHONEY takes on an angsty persona that contrasts heavily with the preceding vocals. But this was short-lived, as vocals take over during the pre-chorus, returning us to a glimpse of the start of the song. For FREEDOM‘s choruses, the song keeps itself on its toes by blending together JOOHONEY’s vocals and with the harshness of rock elements, which highlights a more dynamic side of JOOHONEY. To me, the choruses highlights the blend of the intensity we get from JOOHONEY’s rap/hip-hop side with the mellow side that comes from his vocal. For the second verse, FREEDOM keeps us on our toes, with the vocal centric start before a dramatic and super intense instrumental break in place of the rapping/hip-hop side we heard earlier in the first verse. Obviously, such a break would allow JOOHONEY to highlight another side of his career – his dancing abilities in the performance and serves as another twist to FREEDOM. The song then closes with the rock-infused/vocal centerpiece, but with an extra layer of electric guitar riffs and intensity to signal that end. FREEDOM is designed to be a cool song and to highlight the best sides of JOOHONEY. That brief is, without a doubt, met. At times, FREEDOM does feel a bit much, but multiple listens and time have helped combat this feeling. Potentially, the song could have been dialed back and explore just one or two of the sides that FREEDOM had explored. But that could have limited FREEDOM to be rather one-dimension and would have meant we would missed out on a unique and personal song from JOOHONEY.

The music video for FREEDOM was pretty cool. Along the vocals and piano at the start of the song, we see JOOHONEY climb up the stairs to seek the freedom he mentions in the lyrics. That and the end with the ending poses/lights gave off a religious undertone, which I thought was interesting. I am sure those moments were symbolic rather than religious though, but that this is all speculation from my end. When we get to the more angsty rap/hip-hop, the video shows a more confronting and intense side of the artist with the use of fluorescence effects, which gave off a cool yet mildly unsettling moment. And everything else in between seemed to give off a more urban and casual vibe based on the outfits of JOOHONEY, the dancers and the sets. Overall, a pretty good music video.

As for the performance, the live vocals made it a captivating performance to watch. As for the rest of the performance, it all looked good and works well with the music. I really enjoyed the dance break enabled by the dramatic instrumental break mentioned before. The stomping moves and intensity both JOOHONEY and the dancers showed gave off a super powerful impression and made it an awesome watch.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10