The Monster Group – EXO!
Is there a person in the K-Pop universe who doesn’t know EXO? We very much doubt it! This SM Entertainment-produced group has been dubbed as the “monster” group even since their rookie era.
The band was formed in 2011 and debuted in 2012. Its current members are Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, and Sehun. The year 2013, EXO’s first album XOXO was released, which contains the breakthrough hit “Growl,” which has been a critical and commercial success in the Korean music industry. It sold over one million copies, making EXO the best-selling Korean artist in twelve years. EXO ranked as one of the top five most influential celebrities on Forbes’s Korea Power Celebrity list for 4 conservative years from 2014 to 2018. Nowadays, the band is called “the biggest boy band in the world” and the “kings of K-Pop” by various media outlets.
One Of EXO Best Songs
She got me going crazy…
Indeed, this EXO song made us crazy since the very first hook! “Monster” is arguably one of Exo’s best songs up until now.
“Monster” is a song recorded as a part of EXO’s third studio album Ex’Act. It was released in Korean and Chinese versions by SM Entertainment on June 9th, 2016, as the second single for the album. This song was written and composed by Kenzie and LDN Noise, and was described as a “dark and intense” medium-tempo dance song with lyrics about a man’s “excessive fixation on his lover.” The song served as one of the “double title tracks” for Ex’Act, the other being “Lucky One,” and was released together with the album on June 9th, 2016. On the same day of the album release, EXO began performing the song on various South Korean music TV shows.
One hour after the song itself was released, SM Entertainment uploaded the Korean and Chinese music videos for “Monster” on their official music channel. Apart from EXO’s performances of the song in various settings, the videos also depict the members as rebels that were eventually captured but ultimately released from a prisoner transport vehicle by Baekhyun, who has been disguised as the driver. In addition, a full choreography version of the music video was exclusively released on June 15th, 2016. The Korean version of the music video entered a list as the fourth most-watched K-Pop music video on YouTube in 2016. On June 8th, 2018, the Korean music video exceeded 200 million views on YouTube, becoming their first music video to do so.
Not only the music video but the song itself was also a hit and topped both South Korea’s Gaon Digital Chart and the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, becoming EXO’s first number one on the latter. Total first-place winnings of the song in the South Korean weekly music TV shows were 9 times. It was also the most awarded song by a boy band in 2016 and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 18th Mnet Asian Music Awards. Later, “Monster” was named the second and third best K-Pop song of 2016, by Dazed and Billboard respectively.
List of Monster Successes
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japan (Japan Hot 100) | 9 |
| South Korea (Gaon Digital Chart) | 1 |
| US Spotify Velocity (Billboard) | 20 |
| US World Digital Songs (Billboard) | 1 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| South Korea (Gaon Digital Chart) | 60 |
Sales
| Region | Sales |
|---|---|
| South Korea (Gaon) | 1,016,599 |
| United States (RIAA) | 15,000 |
Accolades
| Critic/Publication | List | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard | The 20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2016 | 3 | |
| Fuse | The 20 Best Songs of 2016 | 2 | |
| Dazed | The 20 best K-Pop tracks of the year | 2 | |
| Soompi | 15 Of The Biggest K-Pop Hits From 2016 | N/A | |
| KultScene | 50 Best Korean Songs of 2016 | 25 |
Music Program Awards
| Program | Date |
|---|---|
| Show Champion (MBC) | June 22nd, 2016 |
| M Countdown (Mnet) | June 16th, 2016 |
| June 23rd, 2016 | |
| June 30th, 2016 | |
| Music Bank (KBS) | June 17th, 2016 |
| June 24th, 2016 | |
| July 1st, 2016 | |
| Inkigayo (SBS) | June 19th, 2016 |
| June 26th, 2016 |
Show Champion (MBC)
June 22nd 2016
On June 22nd, 2016, EXO appeared in MBC’s Show Champion music show episode 191 and later, achieved their 4th win with the song.
M! Countdown (Mnet)
June 16th 2016
EXO’s “Monster” firstly appeared on Mnet’s M! Countdown and received their first-place position that week after winning against JYP’s singer Baek Ah-yeon. EXO received a total of 9877 points based on streams and views.
June 23rd 2016
On the same music program, EXO came back to win the first place for the third week of June.
June 30th 2016
On June 30th, 2016, EXO received its 8th win and 69th win overall with this song.
Music Bank (KBS)
June 17th 2016
On June 17th, EXO appeared on Music Bank and won first place against Twice’s “Cheer Up.”
June 24th 2016
On the 4th week of June, EXO won for the 6th time.
July 1st 2016
…and finally, the 9th win of EXO’s “Monster!”
Inkigayo (SBS)
June 19th 2016
EXO’s third win against Urban Zakapa and another song from Ex’Act, “Lucky One.”
June 26th 2016
EXO’s “Monster” last win on SBS’ Inkigayo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtm5VdIhmKM
Looking at all the above evidence, it is safe to say that indeed “Monster” is one of EXO’s all-time best songs! Do you agree with us or not? Please kindly share your thoughts with us in the comment box below!
