JOOHONEY's 'Push' feat. REI (IVE): A December Collaboration That Reframes His Solo Identity

JOOHONEY released "Push" on December 22, 2025. The pre-release digital single for his upcoming second mini album marks a significant departure from the powerful rap identity that defines him within MONSTA X. The track features REI from IVE as a co-vocalist and marks JOOHONEY's clearest move yet toward an emotionally restrained R&B sound.

The single's release comes at an interesting moment. MONSTA X's 10th anniversary year produced a career-high album performance for the group in September, and JOOHONEY wrapping that collective chapter with an introspective solo pre-release in December suggests an artist who is using the transition between group and individual activity as an opportunity for deliberate artistic expansion.

What "Push" Does Differently

"Push" is an R&B track written and composed by JOOHONEY himself, built around the emotional tension of being simultaneously pulled toward someone and uncertain about the distance between you. The lyrical metaphor — push and pull, the effort required to close emotional gaps — gives the track a specific intimacy that differs markedly from the aggressive, high-energy performance style JOOHONEY is known for in the group context. Where his MONSTA X material tends toward command, "Push" operates on restraint.

REI from IVE contributes the hook and second verse. The pairing is an interesting cross-agency collaboration: JOOHONEY is with Starship Entertainment under MONSTA X, while REI is an IVE member on the same label. The intra-agency nature of the collaboration is less notable than its musical logic — REI's clean, delicate vocal register provides a tonal counterpoint to JOOHONEY's lower, deliberately understated delivery on this track. The result is a back-and-forth that communicates the emotional hesitation embedded in the lyrics more effectively than either voice alone could have.

The INSANITY Album Preview

"Push" serves as a pre-release for JOOHONEY's second mini album "光 (INSANITY)," scheduled for release January 5, 2026. The album title — the Chinese character for light, combined with the English word INSANITY — suggests a conceptual tension between clarity and chaos that "Push" may only partially preview. JOOHONEY's first solo mini album had established a harder-edged hip-hop aesthetic; if "Push" represents a deliberate softening for the second album's emotional core, "光 (INSANITY)" may be building toward a more complex tonal range than either solo project has fully explored.

The decision to pre-release through a collaboration with REI also serves a strategic function. Cross-group features in K-pop have become an increasingly common mechanism for expanding individual artists' audience reach beyond their established fandoms. REI's Dive fanbase and IVE's broader audience represent a significant discovery opportunity for listeners who might not have sought out JOOHONEY's solo work independently, and the quality of "Push" — produced at the level STARSHIP's artists typically receive — provides a meaningful introduction.

JOOHONEY's Solo Arc

Within MONSTA X, JOOHONEY occupies the role of principal rapper and has carried that identity through years of the group's hardest-edged material. His first solo mini album introduced a version of himself that sat comfortably within that expectation — contemporary hip-hop, produced at a high level, with the lyrical and vocal personality that MONSTA X fans already knew. "Push" suggests something different: a willingness to occupy quieter sonic spaces, to let REI carry melodic weight while he focuses on textural and emotional delivery rather than technical display.

That willingness to soften in a solo context is not unusual among K-pop idols whose group roles are defined by performance intensity — it is, in many ways, the expected direction for a second solo project when the first establishes competence. But the specific quality of "Push" — its compositional restraint, the genuine emotional register of the collaboration — suggests that JOOHONEY's artistic instincts in his individual work are developing toward something more distinctive than genre-appropriate stylistic exercise. "Push" is a small thing, a pre-release single before a January album, but it points toward a solo arc that may prove as interesting as his group work.

Context: December's K-Pop Solo Landscape

JOOHONEY's "Push" arrives in a December that has been unusually active for K-pop solo releases from group members. The end-of-year period traditionally concentrates individual activity as groups complete their promotional cycles and members use the calendar close to launch or preview solo material for the coming year. JOOHONEY's January 5 album date fits that pattern: a December pre-release to build anticipation, a January launch to give the project space in the new year's schedule rather than competing with the densely populated year-end promotional window. The structure is calculated and effective, and "Push" — bright enough to circulate independently but restrained enough to leave questions about the full album — executes it well.

A Year of MONSTA X Members

The timing of "Push" also reflects how productively MONSTA X's members have used 2025's individual windows. The full group's comeback in September dominated the commercial conversation, but across the year, individual members have maintained consistent solo activity that keeps the MONSTA X ecosystem active between group releases. JOOHONEY's December single represents the closing movement of a year-long pattern — individual releases building toward group momentum, then group momentum clearing space for individual work again. It is a circular structure that successful multi-member groups have learned to manage deliberately, and MONSTA X in 2025 managed it well.

For JOOHONEY, "Push" is the end of the year and the beginning of the next chapter simultaneously. The single releases on December 22, the INSANITY album follows on January 5, and whatever MONSTA X's 2026 brings arrives behind both. That sequential momentum — solo first, then group — gives him a sustained presence at the turn of the year that maintains visibility without requiring the full promotional resources of a group comeback. It is smart calendar management, and "Push" is a strong enough standalone to carry its part of the load.