M.O.N.T () is a South Korean

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...

signed to FM Entertainment. They originally debuted as a trio with leader Narachan, rapper Roda, and main vocalist Bitsaeon. In 2017, M.O.N.T released the digital single "Sorry" and were contestants on

JTBC JTBC (shortened from ''Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company'' (; stylized as jtbc) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on 1 December 2011. JTBC ...

's survival reality show ''

Mix Nine ''Mix Nine'' (Hangul: 믹스나인, stylized as MIXNINE) was a South Korean survival reality show broadcast on JTBC. In the show, YG Entertainment founder and producer Yang Hyun-suk traveled to music agencies across Korea to find up-and-coming ...

''. They released the mini-albums ''Going Up'' and ''Awesome Up'' in 2019.

History

M.O.N.T is an acronym for Member of National Team, indicating their ambition to become a representative of

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, go ...

. The group consists of three members native to

Ganghwa Island Ganghwa Island (Hangul ; Hanja ), also known by its native name Ganghwado, is a South Korean island in the estuary of the Han River. It is in the Yellow Sea, off Korea's west coast. The island is separated from Gimpo (on the South Korean mainlan ...

. They employed pure Korean words as

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

s: Narachan (), Roda (), and Bitsaeon (). M.O.N.T released the future R&B-

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The R ...

single "Sorry" on May 21, 2017, a pre-debut release. The members competed separately on

's survival reality show ''

''. Following their stint on the program, the group held music concerts abroad for the following year. M.O.N.T released their first mini-album ''Going Up'' and lead single "Will You Be My Girlfriend?" on January 4, 2019, marking their official debut. They held an album showcase on the same day. From March to May, M.O.N.T embarked on a world tour, where they performed in 16 cities across 11 countries. In midst of the Japan–South Korea trade dispute, M.O.N.T's music video for the patriotic single "대한민국만세" ("Daehan Minguk Mansae") was uploaded in 2019, two days ahead of

National Liberation Day of Korea The National Liberation Day of Korea is a holiday celebrated annually on 15 August in both South and North Korea. It commemorates Victory over Japan Day, when the United States and the Soviet Union liberated Korea from 35 years of Japanese ...

. The lyrics, which utilize pure Korean words, were written by the members and reference territorial dispute over the Liancourt Rocks between South Korea and Japan. They were the first idols to film a music video on the

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, also known by their Korean name of Dokdo or their Japanese name of Takeshima,; ; . form a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The Liancourt Rocks comprise tw ...

, a group of

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

s known as Dokdo in the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

. The profits earned from the song via online music stores were donated to "descendants of those who have made contributions to the nation". On October 24, one day ahead of "Dokdo Day", the trio released "The Korean Island Dokdo", followed by its music video. In 2020, M.O.N.T announced a project called "M.O.N.T. Arena", where they plan to add six new members and form three teams with distinct genres and concepts. Between the teams, the members can form a separate unit consisting of two to nine people. On January 31, 2021, rapper Beomhan was unveiled as the first new member of M.O.N.T. Arena. M.O.N.T issued their second mini-album ''Awesome Up!'' and accompanying single "Rock Paper Scissors" on August 25. Roda designed the artwork on the album's jacket photos. In November, Bitsaeon announced his mandatory military enlistment. During Bitsaeon's absence in 2021, members Roda and Narachan both released solo songs "Anxious" and "Beautiful Sunday", respectively. On April 30, the pair also released the single and music video for "Bottle". At the same time, Narachan also announced his mandatory enlistment to begin in May 2021.

Musical style

M.O.N.T has cited R.ef and

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be sim ...

as their role models. Musically, M.O.N.T's debut album includes

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

pop ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cu ...

s, and acoustic tracks.

Members

List of members and roles. * Narachan () – leader * Roda () – rapper * Bitsaeon () – main vocalist

Discography

Albums

Mini-albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2017 establishments in South Korea K-pop music groups Musical groups established in 2017 Musical groups from Incheon South Korean boy bands South Korean dance music groups South Korean pop music groups