The Phase is the fourteenth extended play by the South Korean boy group Monsta X. It was released by Starship Entertainment and distributed by Kakao Entertainment on September 4, 2026.
Background and release On August 7, Starship Entertainment announced the released of Monsta X's EP The Phase on September 4 through a "coming soon" video, in a year and ahead of the group's The X: Nexus World Tour in North America. It will also be their first album without I.M due to mandatory military enlistment. On August 9, a track list video was released, revealing the EP's lead single "Magic". The individual member trailers, concept photos, and a mood sampler video had been subsequently released.
On September 7, they released a digital deluxe version of the EP, including a remix version of the lead single by Hyungwon under his DJ name titled "Magic (H.ONE Remix)" with Justin Oh and voice messages from the members titled "Dear Monbebe".
Composition The EP represents Monsta X's new phase. The tracks consist of multiple genres, ranging from hip-hop to R&B and from dance-pop to ballad, with a side of funk.
Joohoney participated in the composition of the lead single "Magic" and B-side tracks "Survivor" and "Electric Heart", and Hyungwon for B-side track "Sweet Night, Sweet Morning".
Critical reception The Phase received a favorable review from Forbes, highlighting the group's "experimental and new musical direction" while "maintaining their existing style".
Commercial performance The EP topped the weekly Circle Album Chart, dated August 30 – September 5, with 151,564 sales.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from Tidal.
Monsta X Shownu – lead vocals Minhyuk – lead vocals Kihyun – lead vocals Hyungwon – lead vocals Joohoney – rap vocals (all tracks), vocals (all tracks)
Additional musicians Sam Carter – background vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 6) Kwon Han-eol – acoustic guitar (3) Lee Jin-ho – acoustic guitar, piano (3) Ohk Jae-won – background vocals, bass guitar, drums (3) DJ H.ONE – remixing (7)
Technical Jeong Eun-kyung – digital editing (1, 4), engineering (4) Kwon Nam-woo – mastering (1–6) Emiliano Olocco – mixing assistance, engineering (1) Patrizio "Teezio" Pigliapoco – mixing (1) Yeo Min-soo – engineering (1, 2, 5) Yang Yu-ngeun – engineering (1, 2, 4, 5, 6) Stay Tuned – mixing (2) Kim Dong-il – mixing assistance, engineering (3, 4) Gu Jong-pil – mixing (3, 4) Jeon Bu-yeon – digital editing (5, 6) Kang Dong-ho – mixing assistance, engineering (5) UncleJoe – mixing (5) Jantine Annika Heij – mixing (6) Justin Oh – mixing (6), remixing, mastering (7)
Charts + Chart performance for The Phase Chart (2026) Peakposition Japanese Download Albums (Billboard Japan) 42 South Korean Albums (Circle) 1
Release history + Release history and formats for The PhaseRegionDateFormatLabel South Korea September 4, 2026 Various
See also List of Circle Album Chart number ones of 2026 List of K-pop albums on the Billboard charts
References