I have recently fallen into a K-hole. A K-pop hole, that is. And I credit Monsta X for taking me there.
Once again, the Youtube algorithms just really know how to get to me! To be fair though, this interest in maybe only two weeks old and I was maybe a fool for buying a ticket through Veeps to watch the band’s 2021 concert documentary film, The Dreaming, but here we are. I say I was a fool because I’ve really only seriously been listening to three songs by Monsta X, but I’ve got an intuition about these things, and I can’t imagine my interest going anywhere besides obsession. So yeah, I watched a concert documentary for a band I’ve only just begun to fall head over heels with.
I suppose when I started this concert, I was expecting a concert like I normally get on Veeps. Instead, I realized pretty quickly that this was actually Monsta X’s concert film, The Dreaming. I still thought that it was just going to be a concert, but learned pretty quickly that it was a more behind-the scenes look with some performances sprinkled throughout. Not that I was mad. I can find concert footage all over Youtube if I want to, but it’s always more interesting to me, as an adult anyway, to learn a lot more about the musicians outside of performing the actual music. And K-pop is a whole new beast for me, so anything that came from this documentary was going to be eye-opening.
What I like most about Monsta X, besides a few songs at the moment, is that these dudes are all (excluding I.M.) in their 30s. I know they didn’t start out that old, but I’m surprised the industry still wants anything to do with them. I hope these guys are around to prove people wrong for decades to come, but all we’ve got is the here and now. And right now, almost all of the members are serving mandatory military service, so it might be a few years before we get anything new. Eldest member Shownu was in the midst of his military service when the performances were recorded, so that was a little disappointing. I’ve only known these guys as a six-piece, so it was odd seeing them do it with one less. That’s how I felt about One Direction, too, but I can adapt apparently.
The behind the scenes bits covered just that. How they were going to re-coreograph these songs one member down, and how they were going to re-record his parts for the backing track of the performances. Everyone covered well and the routines went down like a well-oiled machine, but that obviously comes with lots and lots of practice. We get to see some of that practice in the documentary portion of the film, and we learn that they practice at least a little bit every single day. It was also refreshing to see these guys argue with each other. But they remind me of me and my sister, who are mad at each other for the smallest bit of time and then we’re just over it. That’s a healthy relationship right there! The documentary piece also focused on how hands-on the members are with a lot of what they do, both in a live setting and constructing their music. Aside from their dedication to their work, they also have extreme gratitude and love for their fans, of which I now consider myself a part of!
The performances were fun, and while I think most of the vocals were done live, a couple of members don’t seem to be following that pattern. Oh well. It’s ultimately pop music, and I always expect it to be a little fake in “live” settings. I have no doubt that the skill is there, and I also don’t blame them for relying on the back track with all of those intense routines. I knew the first three songs of the set, but as it went on, the morphed into more of their recent tracks, which included all English songs, as well as some serious ballads that I wasn’t accustomed to. I’m excited to get more invested in these guys and I hope another world tour is in the works. You know you’ll find me in the crowd!