"Party Monster" is a song by Canadian singer

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, romance, and ...

, from his third studio album '' Starboy'' (2016). The song was released for digital download on November 18, 2016, alongside "

I Feel It Coming "I Feel It Coming" is a song by Canadian singer the Weeknd featuring French electronic duo Daft Punk, from his third studio album, '' Starboy'' (2016). It was written by the trio alongside Doc McKinney, Cirkut and Eric Chedeville, being produc ...

" featuring French electronic duo Daft Punk, as promotional singles. It was later sent to US

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

radio on December 6, 2016, as the album's third single. The song was written and produced by the Weeknd, Ben Billions, and

Doc McKinney Martin "Doc" McKinney (born August 27, 1971) is a Canadian-American record producer and songwriter. McKinney is a Grammy-award-winning producer. He was formerly one half of the duo (now solo act) Esthero. His work with fellow Toronto artist The ...

, with additional writing credits going to

Belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, cen ...

and

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...

, the latter of which providing background vocals.

Composition

"Party Monster" is a

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song written in the key of

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 77 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of Em–D–C–D.

Commercial performance

"Party Monster" peaked at number 16 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and charted for a total of 19 weeks on the chart, where it was the third-highest peaking track from ''Starboy'' at the time before the resurgence of " Die for You" in the 2020s. It reached the top ten on both the

R&B Songs Hot R&B Songs is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular R&B songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations, digital download sales and streaming data. It was establis ...

chart and

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The song also charted and peaked at number 8 on the Canadian Hot 100, where it became the second-highest peaking track in the country from its parent album at the time and charted for 20 weeks. The single was certified 3×

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streaming equivalent units of over three million units in the United States in 2022.

Music video

The music video for "Party Monster" premiered on January 12, 2017, and was directed by BRTHR. '' Rap-Up'' magazine described its synopsis: " tstarts with Abel Tesfaye he Weekndbehind the wheel, driving through the desert before psychedelics hit and everything gets blurry. With religious and sensual imagery flashing quickly, The Weeknd is transported into a nightmare-like neon and fire-filled world where zombies make out while eating an eyeball cake. As the explosive (

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) clip resumes, it ties into previous visuals like " Starboy" and Abel's Mania vignettes, particularly with the neon cross and panther imagery. In one scene, said panther jumps out of a television screen, causing The Weeknd to sink into his bed. As faces continue to melt around him near the end of the video, he's back on the road. Recklessly, he drives at lightning quick speed, before watching a car drive off a cliff". BRTHR directed Travis Scott's "

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" in a similar style. The cars used in the music video were a

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. ...

FC3S and a

Lamborghini Murcielago Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

. Japanese singer and internet personality Joji is credited as the VHS camera operator for the music video.

Remix

A remix of the song was released on January 19, 2017, in collaboration with GQ magazine. The music video for the remix was directed by David Helman and came out simultaneously with the new version of the song dubbed "Party Monster 2.0".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2016 songs 2016 singles The Weeknd songs Songs written by the Weeknd Songs written by Lana Del Rey Songs written by Ben Billions Songs written by Doc McKinney Songs written by Belly (rapper) Song recordings produced by the Weeknd Republic Records singles XO (record label) singles Songs about casual sex Trap music songs