environment. The track uses heavy bass lines, descending keyboard lines and "massive" choruses, while a male voice sounding like Timbaland sings about Gaga being "hot as hell". Gaga belts during the break down like segment in the middle, with incorporation of chiptune like music. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Monster" is set in the time signature of common time, and composed in the key of C major, with a tempo of 120 beats per minute and Gaga's vocal range spanning from the low note of E3 to the high note of B4. "Monster" has a basic sequence of F–G–Am–Em as its chord progression. Lyrically, "Monster" contains zombie-like metaphors about having one's heart eaten. The song also features references to "Just Dance", Gaga's debut single, with the line "I wanna ‘Just Dance’/ But he took me home instead". Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH believed that the lines in the last verse "get a bit gruesome at the end" with the lines saying "He tore my clothes right off/ He ate my heart and then he ate my brain." Critical reception The song received generally positive reviews from critics. Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH called "Monster" "a potential single", praising its musical composition, but criticizing the lyrics. Evan Sawdey from PopMatters also criticized the metaphors contained in the lyrics of the song, but ultimately called it "one surprisingly effective pop cocktail". Ben Patashnik from NME felt that it was "slightly too disposable". Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork saw similarities between Gaga's voice on "Monster" and the work of Kylie Minogue. Brian Linder from IGN felt that the track was lighter compared to the other songs on The Fame Monster, and complimented the line "We French kissed on a subway train / He tore my clothes right off / He ate my heart and then he ate my brain", calling it a lyrical gem. He also added that "Monster" was a "dance floor riot". Jaime Gill from Yahoo! felt that "'Monster' is a squirmy little beast that wriggles into your brain slowly and is almost impossible to remove." Monica Herrera from Billboard called the song "80s adoring". In 2022, NME Nick Levine wrote about "Monster" that "it says a lot about Gaga's rock-solid songwriting at the start of her career that a 12-year-old deep cut still sounds like it should have been a single." Chart performance In the United