Monsta X are celebrating their tenth anniversary with their first album in two years. We’ll have to wait a couple weeks to hear the full project, but like so many others they’re teasing us with a pre-release today. While watching their set at this year’s KCON LA, I noticed how heavy it was on their dance/club tracks and wondered if this meant the group would be focusing more on that genre going forward. We’ll see what the rest of the album brings, but Do What I Want definitely lands us in the middle of the dancefloor.
With this song, the guys have fused trendy Brazilian funk to a more straightforward club thumper. Like so many dance tracks this year, Do What I Want hinges on a spoken chorus, leaving its slight melodic segments as ornamentation revolving around its centerpiece. This approach is growing more tiresome by the day and tends to make all these tracks interchangeable. They begin to feel more like slogans than songs, but I guess a catchy, simple affirmation sounds good in brief clips on TikTok.
Do What I Want commits another cardinal sin by completely shifting its energy during verse two. This trend has become less common these days than before, but still stymies a song’s momentum in problematic ways. This approach is emblematic of the track as a whole. It’s a hodgepodge of ideas, tempos and moments that doesn’t quite forge a satisfying whole. It’s very messy and its highs aren’t high enough to compensate for the overall “been there, done that” feeling the song elicits. I hope their title track is more focused and memorable.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
