Monsters (song)

Monsters is a song by The Midnight featuring Jupiter Winter. It is the ninth track from their album Monsters.

Track info

The song was written by band members Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle alongside Lelia Broussard and produced by McEwan. It has a running time of three minutes and seventeen seconds and is in the key of G minor.

The line "diamond eyes" heard in the first chorus came from a Tarot card Lyle once pulled. During an interview with Magnetic Magazine, the band talked about the production of Monsters:

Tim: From a track perspective, I wanted the verses to have a LoFi feel and then drop into something big and bombastic. It was really when Lelia Broussard of Jupiter Winter featured, and it became a duet, that everything really fell into place.

Tyler: The thought of former lovers through the lens of Frankenstein’s monster appealed to me. Everyone we’ve loved is a part of us, like having emotional limbs sewn together. What happens when that love dies and you’re carrying around parts of the failed love for the rest of your life? It was great to feel this song out by playing it live with our guitarist/bass player Lelia Broussard (who is 1/2 of Jupiter Winter), and we love what she adds to the record.

When the song was debuted live for the first time during the US leg of the Fall 2019 tour, the second verse had different lyrics and all vocals were sung by Lyle. According to Broussard, the band was testing several new songs during the tour, one of them being Monsters, and thought of turning it into a duet. They asked her to rewrite and sing the second verse, which she did during an off day in between tour dates. The band began performing the song with Broussard's new verse and chorus during the European leg of the Fall 2019 Tour, and it was also performed during the The Midnight Online concert special.

Demo version

Demo of Monsters

An early demo of Monsters was released as a prize during the Fall 2020 alternate reality game (ARG). Titled Monsters (early instrumental demo for KIDS), it is a short instrumental loop. If one listens closely, this loop can be heard in the background during the verses in the final version of the song, though it seems that the instrumentation was slightly changed. Additionally, the tempo is also slower in the final version. Compared to the other demos, this appears to be one of the earliest and least complete. The name suggests that Monsters was originally planned to be on Kids.

Lyrics

Put two beating hearts together
Stitched the seams and pull the levers
Strange desires
Sparks and wires

I signed the dotted line
That tethered yours to mine
No anesthetic
For hearts electric

But parts start to decay
When just your shadow half remains
The operation
Had complications

And the part of you that died
I’ll carry all my life
Lovers slowly decomposing
So it goes

It could’ve been Paradise
We could’ve had diamond eyes
I held so tight that I lost her
We could’ve been fireflies
But that fire died
Dead and gone
I was wrong
Love’s a con
And I’m a monster

[Monsters]

Hope lingers on
After the one you love is gone
Thought I smelled your ghost
In my winter coat

And our love became a void
Another echo in the noise
I can’t erase
What we became

It could’ve been Paradise
Could’ve been you and I
I played the fool
And you played the martyr

We could’ve been fireflies
But some fires die
I meant no harm
We were both wrong
Moving on

I’m a monster

Lyrics source