It’s time to talk about THE CLAN series! I have such found memories of this era. This was like the rise era. Being a Monbebe during this time, everything was so big and dramatic. You could feel they were so soo close to making it huge. This is also the first of a series with a plot driven music video and concept that carried over multiple albums. Incredibly exciting.

Similar to Rush, I’ll also mention who worked on the songs, as listed on Wikipedia. Both Jooheon and I.M have song credits on every song, so I’m not going to mention that every time. Lets get it!

Ex Girl (featuring Wheein of MAMAMOO)

I remember being incredibly excited to see a Mamamoo collab with MX. This was a prerelease track. It’s not a song I listen to much anymore, but I do like it. It’s a midtempo song. A nice flow of vocals and rap.

And I think there’s a decent amount of time given to everyone. I like the effect at the beginning of the song like you’re listening to it from a record player.ESBEE and 리시 (Risi?) worked on this one. A good start to an interesting ride.

All In

I haven’t watched this music video in ages! You got this like post-apocalyptic, Hunger Games setting going on. Hyungwon and Minhyuk’s subplot, where are their individual Oscars for those performances? I do want to point out that I noticed they changed the lyrics (captions) to JOOHONEY in his rap instead of Jooheon. I’m impressed they had someone go back and change that.

Still one of my favorite Monsta X songs ever. Soooo good. I Love the instrumentals, I.M kicking off the song with a rap and just everything lining up to the chorus. It’s structured so incredibly well. It’s back to back engagement for your ears.

The ending with I.M and Jooheon rapping over the beat with Kihyun and other backing vocals going at the same time is sooo smooth. Easily one of my favorite song ends of all time. The best to ever do it, tbh.

Then the choreography to “All In”. Plus the styling?? 1200/10. Straight perfection across the board. I think this was the era when we started seeing more cutouts and no shirts with blazers/suits. Like in this dance practice. I remember them really leaning into having more of an edgy style to them. Like VIXX was passing the baton to them, in my head at least.

ESBEE also worked on this one, along with Mad Clown (not surprising), Brother Su (also not surprising), 리시, and Stereo 14. I love being able to know a song slaps and being able to pinpoint the genius(es) behind it.

Stuck

Then placing “Stuck” right after “All In”? Chef’s kiss. I love that we got a choreography video for this song. As much as I love the drama of “All In” music video, there wasn’t much for choreography to be showcased in that music video. Which makes sense because it was plot driven. And we got a separate video later.

“All In” just deserves to be view in livestage form anyway. That’s the best way to experience it. If you can’t see it in person. “Stuck” also kept the theming the same too. I love the all black, oversized black shirts and black skinny jeans.

I.M’s “I’m losing my mind, but you’re still bright” line? Iconic. The dance breaks, omg I forgot about how frequently they used to do these. We love a good MX dance break. It’s aligns so well with all the horns and other loud ass instruments that’s so unique to this era, MX.

Punch Sound and Seo Jieum worked on “Stuck”, along with I.M and Jooheon, of course. Seo Jieum, who I went down a rabbit hole of banger she’s written like the Korean version of Super Junior’s “Breakdown”, Taemin’s “Danger” (I think I knew that), WJSN’s “Catch Me” and “Tick Tok”, EXO’s “What if”, “Black Pearl”, and countless others. I’ll link her Wiki bio here if you’re curious. But after looking at everything she’s written, it totally makes sense she’s made so many songs I love. Shout out particularly to her.

Sweetheart

I never noticed how prominent the percussion, strings and live instruments in this song until this listen with my AirPods in. It’s niceee. I wanna hear an It’s Live version of this song. This is a perfect song for that. I don’t listen to this one much anymore, but I think it’s more because I forgot about it.

I forgot there’s a special clip version of this song. I keep having to remind myself there was a video for almost every song off an MX album back then, lol.

So on the Wiki there’s someone named Jeongmin listed. And after a quick Google search, they’re literally talking about one of the guys from Boyfriend, recently rebranded BF. The shade. I had no idea they had a Boyfriend member work on this track.

I love seeing group interactions like this. It looks like Jeongmin is still under Starship Ent as a soloist. We’re the same age (born in 1994), so I wonder if he’s getting ready to enlist, or if he’s gotten that out of the way already. Anyway, a nice discovery. I don’t remember that really being marketed back when this album dropped.

Unfair Love

I still enjoy this one a ton. I remember watching the selfie cam video a lot. I miss these so much. I love Jooheon screaming on the track for no reason, then Minhyuk or someone following up with vocals like it’s just a regular thing. These songs are just so high energy and loud. It can be a lot on the senses.

Kiggen is on here, I wasn’t familiar with his work with Hip Hop group Phantom, but that sounds like a rabbit hole itself, lol. Looks like along with music production, composing, all that good stuff, he’s running his own label tied with Brand New, Korean Roulette. Stereo 14, 리시, Seo Jieum are both back on this track.

Because of U

I want an It’s Live version of this song too. My favorite of the slow/midtempo songs off pt 1. It’s still a little groovy. But it’s the one I come back to out of “Ex Girl”, “Sweetheart”, and “Because of U”.

I don’t really have any parts I want to put emphasis on. It’s a tune. I forgot about the pause when I think it’s Shownu sings, and the song stop for a second, then he continues with his line. Small things like that make the songs extra special to me. I like surprises like that.

And last for our who wrote/worked on this, we have Rescue the Beat on this track. I didn’t find much on them. There’s probably more info on them in Korean or something.

I haven’t listened to THE CLAN pt 1 from start to finish in such a long time. What are your favorite songs from this album? Is this your first listen? Tell me everything in the comments. I enjoyed revisiting it, and I hope y’all enjoy my review of it. Next THE CLAN pt 2 will be up next… Like in this series. But also probably the next article, lol, okay byeeeee.

Ash