Songfacts®:

• James Blunt wrote this song for his father, Charles Blount, a former cavalry officer in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars, helicopter pilot and colonel in the Army Air Corps. His dad has stage four chronic kidney disease, and this minor-key piano ballad is a tear-stained tribute to his sick father.
  
  I'm not your son
  You're not my father
  We're just two grown men saying goodbye
  No need to forgive
  No need to forget
  I know your mistakes and you know mine
  
  Blunt explained to Apple Music: "I idolized this man throughout my childhood, but as we grew older, I realized that he had his own fallibilities, and that's an awesome thing to see because you suddenly can become friends then. And then obviously as parents get older, the responsibility starts to weigh on the children that look after them. Although that can be painful, there's something beautiful about it, too."
• Blunt wrote and recorded the song without telling his father. According to an Event magazine interview, when Blunt played it for him in a room with just the two of them there, he responded, "That's the way it is."
• "Monsters" was recorded in the Guards Chapel, on Birdcage Walk in London, where Blunt had been a serving soldier. It features The Trinity Boys Choir, who are all pupils at Trinity School, Croydon, London. The choir has made numerous TV and radio appearances through the years, including the Royal Variety Performance and Bing Crosby's 1977 TV Christmas Special.
• Blunt wrote the song with:
  
  Singer-songwriter Amy Wadge. A childhood friend of Ed Sheeran, their co-writes include Sheeran's hit singles "Thinking Out Loud" and "Galway Girl."
  
  London based songwriter and producer Steve Hogarth. The pair go back a long way; Hogarth worked with Blunt on his debut Back to Bedlam album, and even helped him on his first ever demos, such as the first-ever version of "You're Beautiful."
• After Blunt released "Monsters," a handful of people offered his father a new kidney. Their kindness touched the army captain-turned-singer so much he ended up in tears.
• James Blunt is donating all the profits made from the song to Help for Heroes and British Legion charities.
• Iam Tongi sang "Monsters" during his audition for the Season 21 of American Idol. He dedicated the performance to his late father, who died a couple of months before he auditioned for the show. When Tongi made the final, he performed an emotional duet rendition of "Monsters" with James Blunt. Tongi was visibly emotional throughout the performance and at one point in the chorus, he became so overcome with emotion that he paused for a moment to compose himself. However, he quickly regained his composure and finished the song beautifully.
  
  On May 21, 2023, Tongi was crowned the winner of American Idol Season 21, the first Hawaiian-born Pacific Islander to win the competition.