"The Monster" is a song from American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing Hip hop music, hip hop in Middle America (United Sta ...

's album ''

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 ''The Marshall Mathers LP 2'' is the eighth studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on November 5, 2013 by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. The album is Eminem's last to have the involvement of inde ...

'' (2013) featuring a guest appearance from Barbadian singer

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to th ...

. The song was written by Eminem, Rihanna,

Bebe Rexha Bleta Rexha (; born August 30, 1989), known professionally as Bebe Rexha ( ), is an American pop singer and songwriter. After signing with Warner Records in 2013, Rexha received songwriting credits on Eminem's single " The Monster" (which lat ...

Aalias Aaron Kleinstub (born August 20, 1989), better known by his stage name Aalias, is an American music producer and musician from Cleveland, Ohio. Biography Aaron “Aalias” Kleinstub is a songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentali ...

Jon Bellion Jonathan David Bellion (born December 26, 1990) is an American singer, rapper, and songwriter. He was born and raised in Lake Grove, New York on Long Island. He is best known for his song "All Time Low," along with his writing and producing cred ...

, Maki Athanasiou, and

Frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

, with the latter also handling production. Released on October 29, 2013, as the fourth single from the album, "The Monster" marks the fourth collaboration between Eminem and Rihanna, following " Love the Way You Lie" (2010), its sequel "

Love the Way You Lie (Part II) "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna from her fifth studio album '' Loud'' (2010). It features American rapper Eminem, who wrote the song alongside Skylar Grey and the producer Alex da Kid. It is the sequel t ...

" (2010), and " Numb" (2012), and is a hip-hop and pop song, with lyrics that describe Eminem pondering the negative effects of his fame while Rihanna comes to grips with her inner demons. Upon release, the song was met with positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, who compared the song to "Love the Way You Lie". "The Monster" has successfully charted worldwide, topping the charts in twelve countries including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States' ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also marks Eminem's first number one on the US

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 and has reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Italy and Spain.

Background and production

In 2010, Eminem and Rihanna released their first official collaboration titled " Love the Way You Lie". The song received both critical and commercial success and topped the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for seven consecutive weeks. By the end of the year, 854,000 copies of the song were sold in the UK, making "Love the Way You Lie" the country's biggest-selling song of 2010. The same year, a sequel to the single, titled "

" was released as part of Rihanna's fifth studio album '' Loud''; it mainly views matters from the female protagonist perspective. In November 2012, Eminem and Rihanna collaborated again on " Numb", which was included on Rihanna's seventh album ''

Unapologetic ''Unapologetic'' is the seventh studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on 19 November 2012 by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. It was recorded between June and November 2012, during promotion of her sixth studio album, ...

''. In November 2012, singer Bebe Rexha was at Stadium Red studio in

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater H ...

working on material to be included in her debut album. During the sessions Rexha stated that she "was in a really dark place, a dark head space. Figuring out where you are in life and trying to make shit work for yourself—it gets to you. You get super down on yourself. I was just trying to get out of a depressed phase." At that moment, she wrote the hook for "The Monster"; in the moment she wrote it she knew that it was going to be a song performed by Eminem. The singer further stated that she got the inspiration from the quote "about the monsters that are around us and that live inside of us"; additionally, Rexha was disappointed at being dropped from the

Island Def Jam The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordin ...

record label. The Senior Director of A&R for

Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, after the highly successful release of Eminem's ''The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). Shady has seen negative times when being part of the unsuccessful ...

, Riggs Morales started looking for potential songs to be included on Eminem's eighth studio album. When the producer of "The Monster",

played the song for Morales he "freaked out" and asked for the verses to be stripped and

ProTools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-producti ...

sessions to be sent to Eminem. When Eminem heard the demo he then added his own verses and adjusted the instrumental portion(s) of the track. However, he left the background vocals sung by Rexha intact. On September 11, 2013, Rihanna wrote on her

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account that she had recorded a "#monster" hook for one of her favorite artists. On October 22, Eminem revealed the track listing for his eighth studio album, ''

'', including "The Monster" on which Rihanna was credited as a featured artist. Shortly after premiering the song, Eminem spoke of working with Rihanna again to

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: "The perception of the record, what it's saying, I thought it would be a good idea to have her on it because I think people look at us like we're both a little nuts. That's one of the things that I was telling her in making the record: I think that people look at us a little crazy."

Critical reception

The song was generally well received by critics. Writing for the ''

IBTimes The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...

'', Tarun Mazumdar reacted positively to it, praising its "memorable lines" and Rihanna's "soulful" vocals and rating it 3.5 out of 5. Amy Sciaretto of ''PopCrush'' gave it the same rating and noted that "it's not nearly as powerful or affective as the previous partnership, but it's not supposed to be." Allan Raible of

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...

also enjoyed the song, calling it "a career highlight" and a "personal rhyme about his history."

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's Bill Lamb had similar thoughts, opining that Eminem's introspection "lends the song engaging power" while also praising Rihanna's vocals.

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

's Mike Wass noted that while it did not meet the standard of the duo's previous collaboration, the song was still "undeniably catchy and hook-filled enough for top 40 radio success." Keith Murphy of ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'' praised the lyrical content of the song but otherwise found the single lackluster. Jim Farber of ''

The New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in t ...

'' found it inferior to Eminem's previous single, "

Rap God "Rap God" is a song by American rapper Eminem. The song premiered via YouTube on October 14, 2013, and was released in the United States on October 15, 2013, as the third single from Eminem's eighth studio album, '' The Marshall Mathers LP 2'' ...

" and too similar to " Love the Way You Lie", but appreciated that "at least Em gets off some good lines in the new song." '' XXL'' positioned it at number 19 on their list of the best songs of 2013. ''Atlanta Black Star'' described the song as sounding "like an

old school rap Old-school hip hop (also spelled old skool) is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music and original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any hip hop that does not adhere to contem ...

song as it blends genres with Eminem's rap vocals, rock guitars, and Rihanna's pop-style singing of the chorus."

Commercial performance

"The Monster" first entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number three, on November 6, 2013, marking Eminem's third best entry following "

Not Afraid "Not Afraid" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his seventh studio album '' Recovery'' (2010). It was released as the album's lead single on April 27, 2010, by Interscope Records. "Not Afraid" was first revealed as a single ...

" (number one, 2010) and " Love the Way You Lie" also featuring Rihanna (number two, 2010). This ties " Berzerk", which also debuted at number three on the Hot 100. The entry gave Rihanna her 25th top ten on the chart, equaling

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

for the eighth-most top tens in the chart's history. This achievement also earned the singer the honor of being the fastest woman to accumulate the top ten tally (with eight years and four months since her first single), besting

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

by three months. Furthermore, the debut marked Rihanna's 45th overall chart entry, tying

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the w ...

for the eighth most chart appearances amongst women. The song concurrently opened at number one on the US

Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by '' Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally star ...

chart, with sales of 373,000. The feat marked Eminem's ninth chart topper, giving him the third-most leaders in the tally's history, behind

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her campy style, she has been referred to ...

(9), and Rihanna, who increased her total to 13. The track also entered the US Radio Songs chart at number 31, marking Eminem's second-best entry position following "

Just Lose It "Just Lose It" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his fifth studio album, ''Encore'' (2004). It was released on September 28, 2004, as the lead single from ''Encore'', and was later included on his greatest hits compilation album, '' Curta ...

" (number 17, 2004). In the same issue, "The Monster" debuted atop the

chart, marking Eminem's first number one on the chart of his career, and Rihanna's third. Furthermore, the song entered at number one on the US

Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...

chart, marking the sixth and fourth leaders for Eminem and Rihanna, respectively. The song topped the Hot 100 in its sixth week on the chart, after previously spending four consecutive weeks at number two. The song's ascent to number one marked Rihanna's 13th US number one, tying her with Michael Jackson for the fourth most number ones in the chart's 55-year history. Additionally, Rihanna became the fastest solo artist to achieve 13 chart-toppers, surpassing the previous record held by Mariah Carey (seven-years, eight-month and 19 days), with only

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

reaching 13 number ones more quickly. The song also rose to number one on the ''Billboard'' Radio Songs chart, marking Rihanna's twelfth and Eminem's third number one on the chart. Rihanna also passes Mariah Carey for the most number ones on the Radio Songs chart with the single's number one peak. For Eminem, he ties

Sean Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

and

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

for the most Hot 100 number ones among rappers, with five each. The song has sold 3,844,000 digital copies in the US as of June 2015. In Canada, the song debuted at number one on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record ...

, selling 54,000 downloads, making it Eminem's highest selling debut week in Canada for a single since his song " Berzerk," which sold 50,000 downloads in its debut week. In the United Kingdom, "The Monster" entered at number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on November 3, 2013―for the week ending date November 9, 2013―selling 74,674 copies, despite being released on the previous Tuesday, and having a 48-hour disadvantage on the rest of the week's new singles. The song however, sold 96,059 copies the following week it dropped to number two, selling more copies than it did on the week it reached number one. The song marked Eminem and Rihanna's eighth number one single in that country of their careers respectively. It became Eminem's first single to top the chart as a lead artist since "

Like Toy Soldiers "Like Toy Soldiers" is a song by American rapper Eminem, from his fifth album ''Encore'' (2004). The song received positive reviews from music critics, and peaked at number 34 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Outside the United States, "Like Toy S ...

" in 2005. Eminem however was featured on

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P ...

's chart topping single "

Smack That "Smack That" is a song by American singer and songwriter Akon featuring American rapper Eminem from the former's second studio album '' Konvicted'' (2006). Produced by the latter, it was written by the artists alongside Mike Strange and Luis Res ...

" in 2006. As for Rihanna, the chart topper placed her with

and

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

in the chart's history, as just one of three acts to have scored seven number ones in Britain over seven consecutive years. The song was commercially successful around Europe, reaching the top of the charts in eight countries and entered the top 10 in every territory it charted in. In Asia and Oceania, the single was a huge hit reaching the top position in many countries, including Australia and Lebanon where it spent seven weeks at number one in "The Official Lebanese Top 20".

Music video

Released on December 16, 2013, the song's accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

, Eminem's third to be directed by the American filmmaker

Rich Lee Richard "Rich" Lee is an American music video and commercial director. He has directed music videos for Eminem, Lana Del Rey, Maroon 5, The Black Eyed Peas, Norah Jones, Michael Bublé and The All-American Rejects. Rich Lee started his professio ...

, depicts Rihanna as Eminem's

therapist Therapist is a person who offers any kinds of therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indi ...

in a session, as previous videos from his career are shown and referenced including "

Mockingbird Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. ...

", "

My Name Is "My Name Is" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his second album '' The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). It is also the opening song and lead single of the album. The song samples British singer Labi Siffre's 1975 track "I Got The..." as a bass and ...

", "

Lose Yourself "Lose Yourself" is a song by American rapper Eminem from the soundtrack to the 2002 motion picture '' 8 Mile''. The song was composed and produced by Eminem, longtime collaborator Jeff Bass, one half of the production duo Bass Brothers and Lui ...

", " 3 a.m.", " The Way I Am" and the

2001 Grammy Awards The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Several artists earned three awards on the night. Steely Dan's haul included Album of the Year for '' Two Against Nature''. U2 took ...

performance of " Stan" with

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

. The video was well received and earned three nominations at the

2014 MTV Video Music Awards The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 24, 2014 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. It was the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé and Iggy Azalea led the nominees with eight nominations each, while Eminem followed them ...

, in the categories for "

Best Male Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video was one of four original general awards that have been handed out every year since the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, though, the award was briefly renamed Male Artist of the Year, and ...

", " Best Collaboration" and "

Best Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

". Eminem and Rihanna performed the song live at the

2014 MTV Movie Awards The 2014 MTV Movie Awards were held on April 13, 2014 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The show was hosted by late-night personality Conan O'Brien. The nominees were announced on the morning of March 6, 2014. The awards ceremony t ...

Awards and nominations

Cover versions

The Russian-American guitarist Alex Feather Akimov, released a guitar cover of "The Monster", a recording that was recognized by Billboard.biz (Web Trends). The Welsh band the Beef Seeds recorded a bluegrass version of "The Monster" on their album ''Keepin' it Beefy'' (EP) (released January 27, 2014 on iTunes) In November 2013,

Rudimental Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle. They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and w ...

covered the song at

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

's Live Lounge.Archived a
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Wayback Machine

Track listing

;Notes * signifies a co- producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

, - ! colspan="3" , Streaming , -

Release history

References

External links