Group MONSTA X (MONSTA X) member Kihyun served as a judge who combined empathy with coolheadedness.
Kihyun recently appeared as a judge on the Netflix-released "The Veiled Musician" granting attention with his delicate judging.
Kihyun added a warm atmosphere with his sensitive judging, sincerely empathizing as he watched the participants' stages. In particular, Kihyun's 모습 that eased participants' tension and lit up their stages with enthusiastic reactions drew attention.
Also, while offering encouraging and empathetic critiques to the participants, Kihyun added coolheaded and objective evaluations, maintaining his professionalism. His three-dimensional judging, moving between gentle empathy and calm analysis, also left a deep impression.
That day, after the performance of "Kiss Me" by Park Jin-Young performed by "Tanhyeon-dong Wangttukyeong," he drew laughter on set by offering lavish praise, saying "I think I love this person," and when MC Choi Daniel asked which part he liked, he honestly confessed with a finger heart, saying, "I think this person was maybe the most perfect among those who appeared today. I really love them."
Also, Kihyun applauded the distinctive vocals of "Jeongdong-myeon Gangcheolseongdae," who performed Geeks' "Unrequited Love," saying, "As the nickname suggests, it's a steel vocal. There's no intention to hide the vocals at all," and after expressing admiration added, "I thought we definitely needed people like this, and they showed up exactly," delivering witty judging.
On the other hand, he offered candid, detailed advice born of experience and showed his professional side by saying of the participant "Hannam-dong Double Life," who chose the group BABYMONSTER's "DRIP," "The start was very good, but the rhythm kept breaking and the pitch wavered in the middle. This song is originally done by splitting the parts, but doing it alone made it hard and voice control failed. I thought ambition got ahead of them."
As MONSTA X's main vocalist, Kihyun has shown wide-ranging genre versatility through webtoon and drama OST performances as well as various cover videos. In 2022, seven years after debut, he stepped forward as a solo artist by releasing his first solo single album 'VOYAGER' and his first mini album 'YOUTH'.
Also, MONSTA X, which includes Kihyun, proved their global influence by attracting attention from foreign media such as Forbes in the United States and NME in the United Kingdom after releasing the U.S. digital single "baby blue" on the 14th, their first in four years.
Meanwhile, MONSTA X will join the 2025 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour, starting at New York's Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12 (local time), and will perform in a total of four cities, including Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Dec. 15, Capital One Arena in Washington on Dec. 16, and Kaseya Center in Miami on Dec. 20.
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