HISTORY

2014–2015: Formation and debut

The group was formed as the result of a survival program called No.Mercy, which was launched by Starship Entertainment and Mnet in December 2014. For the show the participants worked directly with the artists of Starship Entertainment including Rhymer, San E, Giriboy and Genius Nochang. For the concluding mission, nine of the remaining members had to form three groups of three and the final seven members of the group, Shownu, Wonho, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Jooheon, and I.M, were determined on the last episode of the show. Member I.M was the only participant who was added during the middle of the show and ended up being chosen for the group. The group’s name, «Monsta X», contains the double meaning of «monsters conquering the K-pop scene» and «my star» (Mon means «My» in French). The X symbolizes an unknown existence. Jooheon, Hyungwon, and I.M also released their song «Interstellar» on February 12, which was produced for the final mission by producer Yella Diamond.

Monsta X made their debut with the release of their first extended play, Trespass on May 14, 2015. The title song of the same name is produced by Rhymer and described as a «strong and edgy track that reflects Monsta X’s unique character». Trespass includes seven different tracks, rapper Jooheon was the most involved member in the production of the album and composed several songs, including «One Love,» «Steal Your Heart,» and «Blue Moon». Monsta X’s other rapper, I.M was also involved in the rap making of several songs. Kihyun and Wonho also contributed song lyrics for the album.

2016: The Clan 2.5 Part 1 Lost and The Clan 2.5 Part 2 Guilty

The group joined a new variety program titled «MONSTA X’s Right Now». In April 2016, the group participated on a Chinese survival program called «The Remix», which was aired in June on Jiangsu Television. The show holds a remix competition in the program and each one of the participants receive a lesson from its assigned mentor and perform its stage by remixing representative Chinese music. Monsta X also appeared in a Chinese web drama Good Evening, Teacher, receiving positive responses from local viewers.

Monsta X’s third mini album The Clan Pt. 1 Lost was released on May 18 with the title track «All In». The music video for «All In» was directed by filmmaker Shin Dong-keul, a former winner at the Canada International Film Festival, and is known for his dreamy and euphoric style in producing music videos. The album debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s World Albums Chart and stayed for two consecutive weeks on it. On May 9, the group pre-released one of the album songs, «Ex girl» featuring Wheein of Mamamoo. The album is a starting of a large-scaled project called «THE CLAN», composed of two and a half parts.

In July 2016, Monsta X held their first solo concert, MONSTA X The First Live «X-Clan Origins» from July 16 till July 17, which was successfully sold out in five minutes. In August 2016, Monsta X joined label-mates Cosmic Girls for a project unit group to promote KT’s phone fare service and to release music together. Monsta X’s fourth mini album and second part of The Clan series titled The Clan 2.5 Pt. 2 Guilty was released on October 4. The EP contains six tracks including the title track «Fighter».^[ In December the group was awarded the «Best of Next Male Artist Award» at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards.^[

2017–present: First studio album, Japanese debut, and world tours

The group launched its own variety show called Monsta X-Ray through JTBC2. In March 2017, Monsta X released their first studio album and the final part of The Clan series titled The Clan Pt. 2.5: The Final Chapter with the title track «Beautiful». The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Albums chart with more than 1,000 copies sold, which makes it the band’s best sales week in America. Monsta X also ranked in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart and debuted at No. 10. Furthermore, the title track «Beautiful» debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart.

In May 2017, Monsta X made their debut in Japan under Universal Music Japan’s new label Mercury Tokyo with first Japanese single «Hero», which contains the Japanese version of the groups previously released Korean songs, «Hero» and «Stuck». First Japanese single «Hero» reached number two on the Oricon’s weekly single chart, Tower Records’ chart, and Billboard Japan’s weekly charts to No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. “Hero” is the only album from a foreign artist who debuted in 2017 to make it into the top three of Oricon’s weekly chart.

On June 19, Monsta X released a repackaged version of The Clan Pt. 2.5: The Final Chapter called «Shine Forever» which features the original songs from the album and two extra songs «Shine Forever» and «Gravity». 

On March 26, the group officially released their sixth mini album The Connect: Dejavu containing seven tracks with the lead title track «Jealousy», including «If Only,» co-written by Wonho, and «Special,» co-written by Jooheon. The title song of the same name is produced by Hayden Bell, Shane Simmons & Harry Sommerdahland. In this comeback, they won music broadcast award again through SBS MTV’s The Show. Monsta X cooperated with Lens Town, a widely known global fashion eyewear and contact lens company as models on April 11. They actively participated in the release process with Lens Town to produced their lens as «Monsta X lens» or MnX and the members coordinated their design and detail points. The lens released officially in May.

On April 25, they released their first Japan album Piece with the lead title track «Puzzle». This album contains ten tracks, featuring the original songs from their previous Japan single album and four additional songs. Piece reached No. 1 on Tower Records’ chart all store, No. 3 on the Oricon’s weekly album and Billboard Japan’s weekly chart. Following this, on April 27, they started their first Japan live tour in Nagoya.

(I got all this info from : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsta_X#Discography )