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

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

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 in all lowercase) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on December 1, ...

's survival reality show '' Mix Nine''. 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 (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

. The group consists of three members native to

Ganghwa Island Ganghwa Island (), also Ganghwado, is an island in Ganghwa County, Incheon, South Korea. It is in the Yellow Sea and in an estuary of the Han River. The island is separated from Gimpo (on the South Korean mainland) by a narrow channel spanned ...

. They employed pure Korean words as

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

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 reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

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

's survival reality show '' Mix Nine''. 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 public holiday celebrated annually on 15 August in both North Korea and South Korea. It commemorates the day when Korea, Korean Peninsula was liberated by the Allies of World War II, Allies in 1945 from ...

. 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, known in Korea as Dokdo () and in Japan as Takeshima (), are a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago administered by South Korea. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...

, a group of

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s known as Dokdo in the

Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

. 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 () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

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 piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

, pop ballads, and acoustic tracks.

Members

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

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

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 Peak Time contestants