MONSTA X’s I.M blazes into a new challenge with ‘Overdrive’

MONSTA X’s I.M blazes into a new challenge with ‘Overdrive’ – Album Review

The second EP ‘Overdrive’ on June 23, 2023 which features six tracks.

By Nandini Iyengar -

June 26, 2023 - 3:57 PM IST

It has been a while since we heard I.M in his element crooning to hypnotic beats and spreading an entrancing magic with his music. The wait was finally over on June 23, 2023 with his second EP ‘Overdrive’ with his new label Sony Music Korea. Almost two years have passed since we first heard the sultry tunes of ‘Duality’. The ‘God Damn’ hitmaker resorted to a new challenge with his second outing as a soloist. Employing the idea of self-acceptance, love and a deep emotional understanding, I.M presents a stunning 6-track long EP. I.M’s compositions are no strangers to a fast-paced packaging of beats, lyrics and stunning imagery and he only proves it true again with this latest musical offering. He collaborates with the long term friends and composers Long Drive, The Need, Wooki and Yoon Seok to craft each track to perfection. Let’s take a closer look at each of the six tracks from I.M’s second EP ‘Overdrive’.

MONSTA X’s I.M blazes into a new challenge with ‘Overdrive’ – Album Review

OVERDRIVE
Starting with a title track of the same name as the EP, I.M picks the idea of a racing car in an overdrive to speak about a consuming urge to keep moving, reaching a new peak and finding a new challenge just to feel alive – “I cannot contain what's in my brain / I drive me insane and do this again/Forget yesterday, I'm runnin' on my lane”. There is ample sultriness for those who are looking for it. ‘Overdrive’ is as resplendent as ‘God Damn’, but it takes I.M’s creativity a notch further.

BLAME
Who is to blame when a love goes sour? Is it Person A or Person B or is the circumstances they are in? But what to do when the soured love cannot be forgotten? Whom do you blame? Yourself, your partner or nostalgia? I.M tries to find an answer to these questions with ‘Blame’. As I.M belts out the pain not being able to forget a love and trying to blame the person to get over the guilt – “You're my reason why I blame on your name / Do you even feel my pain what you made?” - the song makes a smooth progression from RnB to trap.

HABIT
When you spend a considerable time with a person and eventually grow attached, having them around becomes like a habit. If that relationship goes downhill, the habits do remain. It is as difficult it is to get out of a habit as it is to get into one. There’s something cosmically twisted about habits which turn into a slow poison for the mind and soul. It is like being stuck in a vicious circle you cannot get out of – “Oh, can't say goodbye / 'Cause you're my habit and my loop”. Finding his way back home to the RnB genre in this track, I.M makes use of all vocal tools at his disposal and resorts to singing between a low and high register.

DUMB
They say that love makes one act like a fool sometimes. It makes one want to do everything possible for their partner. Sometimes, this foolery gets taken advantage of and the realization hits too late. I.M sings about a protagonist who poses a question to their partner if they are dumb and don’t see the truth – ”Are you dumb, dumb, dumb? / Baby, you're so numb / We've been talkin' love but you never know”. I.M’s rich vocal texture is beautifully accentuated with a slew of RnB beats which take the center stage once again.

MORE
The sultriness we observed in ‘Overdrive’ is now much more pronounced with ‘More’. There are no hidden meanings but only direct declarations of the intentions in this track – “I won't make you hush but tell mе if it hurts / I'm lost in our lust/And we should call this love”. There is an all-encompassing feel to the song from start to finish. It feels like I.M turned a new leaf in his journey to come to terms with his emotions and desires, for the questions seem glaringly absent from ‘More’. Unlike the preceding tracks, there seems to be a sense of understanding and sheer demand of fulfillment of desire.

NOT SORRY
We are all familiar with the term ‘Sorry not sorry’. Most of us might have also made a fair share of use of that term, because in all fairness, sometimes one just does not feel the need to make an apology to follow one’s heart and desire. In times when following one’s heart is often frowned upon, one must just say ‘Sorry, not sorry’ and move on. I.M incorporates retro jazz music into the concluding track ‘Not Sorry’ - “Let's let the night so cold/Even if it's gold 'cause I don't want it anymore”. A wave of calm and composed mind set seems to have washed over the overall questioning and hurting tone found in the earlier tracks. The calmness that takes over after one comes to terms with their situation is something else entirely.

I.M’s songs as a soloist open a window to peek into his soul as an artist and as a fellow human who perhaps goes through a similar ride of emotions as the next person. With ‘Overdrive’ he takes one step ahead in his journey to voice the innermost workings of his mind and to set himself up for a new challenge, thus accessing his versatile mindset towards music. Within these six tracks of ‘Overdrive’, he presented the journey of a relationship that blazes and heads towards a rather ruinous end but leaves behind a trail of burning embers. These embers are revisited to find an answer to the burning questions and as the embers flicker towards their end, there seems to be a finality that the relationship has truly ended. I.M incorporates a mix of genres to showcase that he can truly leave his home ground in music and venture on the adventure to find a new challenge. The seductive blend of music within these tracks, and the sweet surprise of jazz at the end was a delightful treat from start to finish. If one was to pick one thing that is less in the album, it would be the number of songs and the runtime of each!