By Ellie Forte | @filthydinosaurs

 

On May 3 at 12AM KST, NCT’s Taeyong released his latest song “Monroe” with Baekhyun of EXO. Produced by SQUAR, the song has a vintage mood. In its first hour, “Monroe” reached over 205K streams on SoundCloud. The song features energetic production, engaging rapping, and smooth vocals from both Baekhyun and Taeyong. “Monroe” delves into the emotions accompanied with love.

 

Inspired by Marilyn Monroe

On April 30, Taeyong first released the teasers for “Monroe” on his Instagram story. Taeyong is no stranger to using cultural moments and symbols to tease his upcoming work, create concepts for his music. Marilyn Monroe was a cultural icon known for her beauty and femininity. In the song, Taeyong sings, “I love your blonde hair, I love your lovely eyes,” alluding to her physical features.

Taking it a step further, he included a snippet from a news broadcast discussing Marilyn Monroe. The song starts, “After a year’s absence, Marilyn Monroe flew back to Los Angeles from New York and answered reporters’ questions”.

In addition, EXO’s Baekhyun starts off the song by singing “I’m still smoking cigarettes.” Marilyn Monroe was famously known for smoking cigarettes both in her films and private life. The line cleverly places Baekhyun as Marilyn while Taeyong is the reporter responding. By using Marilyn Monroe as the muse for the song, he is able to paint pictures in the minds of listeners. 

 “Monroe” was first teased for 10 seconds in September 2019 during a VLIVE named “Long time no see?LEE TAEYONG.”

 

Surprise Collaboration with Baekhyun

Back in March, it was announced that Taeyong and fellow SuperM member, Baekhyun, would collaborate on a future SoundCloud release.

https://twitter.com/support_127/status/1372884003297058816

Taeyong did not mention Baekhyun would be on this song, and listeners were happily surprised to find that this was the highly-anticipated Baekhyun collaboration.

https://twitter.com/tokkiknight/status/1388871180002676740?s=21

 

Baekhyun on several occasions has said that he wanted to collaborate with Taeyong. The two were also a hot topic last june as Taeyong participated in the #CandyChallenge with Mark. Since then, fans of both Taeyong and Baekhyun have been excited for these two artist’s futures.

https://twitter.com/tyhjwy/status/1388871607079391232?s=21

https://twitter.com/gtaprints/status/1388873535141994505?s=21

Because Baekhyun is set to enlist soon, this was an especially exciting release for his fans, BBHLs. Baekhyun also recently released his critically acclaimed mini-album, Bambi. 

 

For the Future

Taeyong’s music is a testament to his talent as an artist. With years ahead of him, he shows a bright future for a possible solo record.

Want to listen to more? Make sure to keep up with Taeyong on his Instagram. 

Now that it’s officially released, read more about how Taeyong surprised fans with his symbolic teasers for “Monroe!”

Thumbnail Courtesy of SM Entertainment

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