Monsters (James Blunt song)

James Blunt's father Charles, himself a kidney donor, was diagnosed with stage four chronic kidney disease.[5] Blunt wrote "Monsters" to "express his feelings about his father and his illness, almost as if it's a touching farewell to his father".[6] In an interview with Good Morning Britain Blunt said,[5]

Really that has been an amazing moment. Because when you realise your father's mortality it's a great opportunity to say the things I'd like to say to him. So I have written a song called Monsters for him.

In the same interview he made a plea for type O kidney donors to step forward.[5] In January 2020 MSN reported Blunt's father had been scheduled for a transplant.[7]

The music video was filmed in Oxfordshire, UK, and it was directed by Vaughan Arnell.[8] The music video features James Blunt, and his father Charles Blount.[6] The vast majority part of the video focuses on James Blunt's face as he sings the song and it later shows James sitting in a kitchen with his father.[6]

Australian television presenter Lisa Wilkinson said she was "left bawling" after watching the music video of the song.[9] Monika Barton of Newshub wrote about the music video, "Go on, have a little watch and see if you have a heart, or merely just a sharp, pointy piece of flint where it should be".[10]

Blunt wrote the song to express his feelings about his father.

Minnie Wright of the Express wrote, "Heartbreaking perspective illuminates the place from which Blunt has penned the deeply personal Once Upon A Mind with the arrival of Monster".[11] Lauren Murphy of Entertainment.ie wrote, "Before you watch this video, be warned that it's pretty tough going if you're feeling in any way emotionally fragile, or have lost a parent".[12] Rudi Kinsella of Joe wrote, "This is one of the most emotional music videos we've seen in a very long time".[13]

• Lyrics of this song at Genius