"Monster" is a song by South Korean–Chinese boy band

Exo Exo ( ko, 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai ...

, released on June 9, 2016, as the second single from their third studio album ''

Ex'Act ''Ex'Act'' (stylized in all caps) is the third studio album by South Korean–Chinese boy band Exo. It was released by SM Entertainment in Korean and Chinese versions on June 9, 2016. The album was re-released under the title ''Lotto'' on August 18 ...

''. It was released in both Korean and Chinese versions by their label

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies where it was established in 1995 by record executive and record producer Lee Soo-man. The company ha ...

Background and release

Composed and arranged by Kenzie,

LDN Noise LDN Noise (pronounced ''London Noise'') is a British songwriting and record production duo based in London, England. Consisting of songwriter Greg Bonnick and DJ Hayden Chapman, the duo has worked with artists such as Nathan Sykes, Nick Jonas ...

, and Rodnae "Chikk" Bell, with the Korean lyrics written by Kenzie and

Deepflow Ryu Sang-gu (Hangul: 류상구; born 1984), known by the stage name Deepflow (Hangul: 딥플로우) is a South Korean rapper, music producer, and Chief executive officer, CEO of the hip hop record label Vismajor Company. He won the award for Musi ...

and the Chinese lyrics written by

Kevin Yi Kevin Yi is a Chinese lyricist. He has been nominated for Best Lyricist in the Golden Melody Awards, and has worked alongside a number of notable artists, including Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin, Coco Lee, Chief Zhao and Yida Huang. Yi is currently employ ...

, "Monster" is described as a "dark and intense" medium-tempo dance song with lyrics about a man's "excessive fixation on his lover". The song served as one of the "double title tracks" for ''

'', the other being "Lucky One", and was released together with the album on June 9, 2016. Exo began performing the song on South Korean music TV shows on the same day.

Music videos

The Korean and Chinese music videos for "Monster" were released one hour after the song itself. Apart from Exo's performances of the song at various settings, the videos also depict the members as rebels that were eventually captured but ultimately released from a

prisoner transport vehicle A prisoner transport vehicle, informally known as a "Sweat Box" amongst British prisoners, is a specially designed or retrofitted vehicle, usually a van or bus, used to transport prisoners from one secure area, such as a prison or courthouse, to ...

Baekhyun Byun Baek-hyun (; born May 6, 1992), better known mononymously as Baekhyun, is a South Korean singer, songwriter and actor. Baekhyun began training under SM Entertainment in 2011. A few months later, he made his debut in 2012 as a member of the ...

, who has been disguised as the driver. The Korean version was the fourth most-watched K-pop music video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

in 2016. An additional music video exclusively showcasing the song's choreography was released on June 15, 2016. On June 8, 2018, the Korean music video exceeded 200 million views on YouTube, and on November 13, 2019 it exceeded 300 million, becoming their first music video to achieve both milestones.

Reception

"Monster" topped both South Korea's

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based o ...

and the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

World Digital Songs The World Digital Song Sales chart (formerly World Digital Songs) is a weekly record chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by '' Billboard'' magazine. Established in 2010—with the issue dated January 23—as one of 21 genre-specific ...

chart, becoming Exo's first number one on the latter. The song won first place nine times in total on South Korean weekly music TV shows, and was the most awarded song by a boy group in 2016. It was nominated for Song of the Year at the 18th Mnet Asian Music Awards, and was named the second and third best K-pop songs of 2016 by ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

'' and ''Billboard'' respectively.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

Release history

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from album's liner notes.

Studio

* SM Blue Cup Studio –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

* SM Big Shot Studio –

digital editing Digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital ...

* SM Yellow Tail Studio – mixing * Sound Pool Studio – recording * Ingrid Studio – recording * Sterling Sound – mastering

Personnel

–

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

Lee Soo-man Lee Soo-man (, born 18 June 1952) is a South Korean business executive and record producer who is best known for being the founder of SM Entertainment, a multinational South Korean entertainment company based in Seoul. He has also been referred ...

– producer *

EXO Exo ( ko, 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai ...

– vocals **

D.O. Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become licens ...

–

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

** Chen – background vocals **

Chanyeol Park Chan-yeol (; born November 27, 1992), better known mononymously as Chanyeol, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, actor and model. He is a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy group Exo, its sub-group Exo-K and sub-u ...

– background vocals * Kenzie – producer, Korean lyrics,

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, vocal directing *

– Korean lyrics *

– Chinese lyrics * MQ – vocal directing * Rodnae "Chikk" Bell – composition, arrangement, background vocals *

– producer, composition, arrangement * Jung Eui-seok – recording * Jung Ho-jin – recording * Jung Eun-kyung – recording * Lee Min-gyu – digital editing * Gu Jong-pil – mixing *

Tom Coyne Tom Coyne may refer to: * Tom Coyne (writer), American writer and professor * Tom Coyne (broadcaster) (1930–2015), British television presenter * Tom Coyne (music engineer) (1954–2017), American mastering engineer * Thomas Coyne (cricketer) ( ...

– mastering

References

{{authority control Exo songs Korean-language songs Chinese-language songs 2016 singles 2016 songs SM Entertainment singles Songs written by Kenzie (songwriter) Gaon Digital Chart number-one singles Songs written by Hayden Chapman Songs written by Greg Bonnick Song recordings produced by LDN Noise