RM surprises fans with beautifully chill mixtape "mono."

BTS leader and rapper Namjoon Kim, who goes by the stage name RM, showcased his talents as a vocalist on his new ̶m̶i̶x̶t̶a̶p̶e̶ ... sorry, "playlist," mono. The seven-track playlist, as RM has labeled it, was released in the States on Monday, October 22nd, and I'm already wholeheartedly obsessed with it.

His debut mixtape, RM, was released in March 2015. The majority of RM consists of coarse rap songs that are full of energy. Nothing unexpected there because that's his natural style as an artist. In contrast, the style of mono. surprised me a lot because it's unlike anything he's done before.

On mono., not much rapping can be found. RM really took this as a chance to show that he is not only a rapper, but also a talented vocalist. The majority of the tracks are really chill, and listening to the album is calming and relaxing, like soaking in a warm bath at night. The playlist is beautiful, and RM did a great job with the lyrics, which are all full of raw emotion.

I think that the cover of the mixtape is actually the perfect representation of it. It looks like a white piece of paper with some specks and creases, and nothing is written on it other than "mixtape" in the top right corner, which RM crossed out, and "RM playlist mono." on the bottom. It's so simplistic, and that theme is reflected in the songs.

Another thing I love is his balance of Korean and English lyrics. While "tokyo" is the only song that is fully in English, other songs like "moonchild" and "badbye" have large chunks of English lyrics. I think this is a mixtape that speakers of both languages can fully enjoy and not have to worry about the language barrier. Even the parts that are all in Korean, non-Korean speakers can still understand the intent and emotion of the song through the vocals and melodies.

Personally, I think "tokyo" and "seoul" are the best two tracks on mono., with "tokyo" being my ultimate favorite. It's super simple with pretty few lyrics; it uses piano for the melody, which sounds gorgeous; RM's voice is soothing and lovely; the beat is steady and captivating; and it ends with RM whistling the melody one final time. It all fits perfectly together, making this song one of my overall favorites at the moment.

My second favorite, "seoul," was produced by HONNE (who I also really, really love). The song is about RM's love-hate relationship with Seoul, the big city he now lives in due to his career.

Mixtape, playlist, mini-album, whatever you want to call mono., I highly recommend listening to it from beginning to end. Here is the link to listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0XqAZHNx0xJDObehTI2587.

While I enjoyed some songs on RM, I definitely prefer mono. It really showed people Namjoon Kim's humanity and emotional side, compared to the rough, bad boy we were shown in RM. I think the real him was portrayed better in this new mixtape, and it's something that a lot of different kinds of people can resonate with and enjoy deeply. I hope to see more of this side of RM in the future.

Watch the lyrics video for "seoul" here:

#mixtape #playlist #BTS #RM #chill #mono #seoul #tokyo #Korean #English #HONNE