Monster (Big Bang song)

"Monster" is a song recorded by South Korean group Big Bang. It was released on June 3, 2012 by YG Entertainment as the only single from the repackaged version of their extended play Alive, Still Alive. The song was written by group members G-Dragon and T.O.P, and composed by the previous with Choi Pil-kang. "Monster" peaked atop South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart and reached the Top 10 on the Japan Hot 100.

"Monster"
Single by Big Bang
from the album Still Alive
ReleasedJune 3, 2012
Genre
Length3:51
LabelYG
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • G-Dragon
  • P.K[1]
Big Bang singles chronology
"Fantastic Baby"
(2012)		 "Monster"
(2012)		 "M"
(2015)

Background and promotion

After the success of Alive, YG announced that the EP would be repackaged as a special edition studio album with additional songs and re-titled as Still Alive. The special edition and its single "Monster", were released June 3, 2012. Daily music video teasers were released from May 25 until the day before the song's release.[2][3]

The music video was shot in a blockbuster scale in a collaboration with Hyundai Card,[4] with use of special effects that "took a month to perfect".[5] Big Bang and Hyundai Card started a project called "Re-Monster" to promote the music video, aimed to give opportunities for indie bands to reinterpret the song. The new redefined songs were uploaded onto Hyundai Music, where they were judged and the winning musicians would have a chance to release a digital single.[6]

A Japanese version of the song was included at the Japanese studio albums Alive and the greatest hits album The Best of Big Bang 2006-2014. This version was promoted in the TV show Music Japan, which was the only live performance of the single on television.[7]

Composition

Composed by G-Dragon and written by the rapper with Choi Pil-kang, with additional rap parts penned by T.O.P, "Monster" was described as "a modern interpretation of the late 2000s sad, upbeat" Big Bang songs, such as "Lies" and "Haru Haru."[8] The instrumental was noted for clashing a "gentle melody against orchestral cacophonies"[9] and for flipping "pensative verses" with an "aggressive chorus."[10] The lyrics "depicts a denial of one's own nature."[9]

Reception

Billboard named "Monster" Big Bang's eighth best song, writing that the track shows the group "at their most dramatic" and that the "sneaking, subtle intro and outro refrains from T.O.P and G-Dragon" provide the song "the perfect touch of eeriness."[9] Sun-Times also named the single as one of the group's best songs, stating that it proved "they could do upbeat songs with a heart."[10]

The song debuted at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart,[11] with 757,501 downloads[12] and 2,980,293 streams in its first week.[13] On the second week, the single dropped to number three,[14] selling 286,386 digital downloads[15] and being streamed 2,618,701 times.[16] "Monster" landed at number fourteen on Gaon's Digital Year-End chart,[17] with over 2,3 million downloads, the twenty best-selling song of 2012.[18]

Commercial performance
Chart (2012) Peak
position
South Korea (Gaon Weekly Digital Chart)[11] 1
South Korea (Billboard K-pop Hot 100)[19] 1
Japan (Billboard Japan Hot 100) 6
United States (World Digital Songs)[20] 3

Sales
Chart (2012) Peak
position
South Korea (Gaon Download Chart) 2,438,809[21]

Release history
Region Date Format Label
South Korea June 3, 2012 Digital download YG Entertainment
Worldwide

References
  1. "Special Edition Still Alive - Bigbang". Qobuz (in French). Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  2. "Big Bang Releases Flaming G-Dragon Teaser for New Album "Still Alive"". Soompi. 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  3. "Big Bang Releases Daesung's "Monster" Teaser Video". Soompi. 2012-06-01. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  4. "Big Bang, "Monster" Blockbuster Music Video". Korea Joongang Daily. 2012-06-11. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  5. "Big Bang′s ′Still Alive′ Sweeps Charts Without Promotion". Mwave. 2012-06-03. Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  6. "Big Bang Asks Indie Bands for Help in Hyundai Card Collaboration Project". Mwave. 2012-06-06. Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  7. "Big Bang Performs "Monster" on Japanese TV". Soompi. 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  8. Tamar Herman (August 23, 2015). "K-Pop Mixtape: 9 Most Definitive Big Bang Songs". KpopStarz. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  9. Tamar Herman (December 23, 2016). "The 10 Best BIGBANG Songs: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  10. Kaitlin Miller (May 2, 2015). "Big Bang's 10 best songs of the past 10 years". Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  11. "2012년 24주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Chart.
  12. "2012년 24주차 Download Chart". Gaon Chart.
  13. "2012년 24주차 Streaming Chart". Gaon Chart.
  14. "2012년 25주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Chart.
  15. "2012년 25주차 Download Chart". Gaon Chart.
  16. "2012년 25주차 Streaming Chart". Gaon Chart.
  17. "2012년 Digital Chart". Gaon Chart.
  18. "2012년 Download Chart". Gaon Chart.
  19. "Korea K-Pop Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. June 23, 2012.
  20. "World Digital Songs". Billboard. June 16, 2012.
  21. Cumulative sales for "Monster"
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