The Monster

Story of Song

Although the song wasn’t initially written for Eminem, after it was sent over to Shady records and Eminem decided to do it, the rest of the song was tailored to his style. One of the writers, Jon Bellion, told HIPHOPdx that he wrote the lyrics “because sometimes you can’t necessarily get rid of your demons. You can’t necessarily, completely just not be fearful or not have an addiction or a problem so you kind of have to live with it and learn to like, kind of live with monsters. He’s not going to go away. The monster is still there but he’s got to learn to live with it and deal with it and kind of co-exist with your demons, ‘cause demons will never just be gone. You’ll never just be happy your entire life.”  When Eminem added his touches to the song, Jay said: “I think he really hit the nail on the head cause he addressed the issues with fame. I think those were his monsters that you can’t really get rid of. I think he’ll always be relatively addicted. I think he’ll always be relatively annoyed by the fame and all that stuff. But it’s something he’s going to have cope with. I think he literally hit the nail on the head with exactly what I meant.” Eminem also talked to BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe regarding his trouble with fame versus a normal life: “It was this thing where I want this attention for this music, but then I want to be able to go in public, and I want to be able to eat a f—ing sandwich and be left alone. I’ve never been an attention seeker, and [rap] seems like a hell of a career choice [for me], but …that’s not why I do it, just to get attention. I don’t like to go in public and walk around and be like ‘Here I am.’ It’s not what I want.” Eminem told MTV News in regards to adding Rihanna to the song that: “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 I was telling her in making the record:  I think that people look at us a little crazy.”

Release date

October 29, 2013

Songwriter/s

Marshall Mathers – Bryan Fryzel – Bebe Rexha – Aaron Kleinstub – M. Athanasiou – Robyn Fenty – Jon Bellion

Label

Glassnote – Island

Chart Rankings

“The Monster” reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, making it the eighth number one song in the UK for both Eminem and Rihanna separately.  The song is Eminem’s first number one song on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and his third best entrance into the Billboard Hot 100. “The Monster” opened at number one on the US Digital Songs chart, and entered at number one on the US Rap Songs chart. The song also reached number one in Lebanon, spending seven weeks at number one in The Official Lebanese Top 20. Besides reaching number one in the UK, US, and Lebanon, the song also was number one in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Venezuela. “The Monster” reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mexico Anglo Chart, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey.  It was certified 5x Platinum in Australia, Sweden, 3x Platinum in Denmark, 2x Platinum in Canada, Italy, and New Zealand, and Platinum in Mexico, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.  “The Monster” was also certified Gold in Belgium.

Artist’s age on release date

Eminem was 40 when The Monster was released

Cover Versions

MattyBRaps featuring Skylar Stecker; Boyce Avenue featuring Carly Rose Sonenclar; Everyll; Johnny Orlando; Chloe x Halle; and other lesser known YouTube artists.

Video