Monster

This was the second single from American Christian rock band Skillet's eighth studio album, Awake. In a 2014 Songfacts interview, John Cooper said this was inspired by the 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk, starring Ed Norton. After Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) is injected with chemicals to become The Abomination, the Hulk's adversary, a soldier asks him how he feels. "Like a monster," he replies.

Frontman John Cooper explained to StereoTruth: "It's a song about being fake and putting on a face for people that's not the real you. But it's basically about the nature of sin and the nature of the divine, which is the duel nature we have as Christians. Everyday we have to strive to throw away the old and be that new person in Christ."

Cooper expanded on the song to Christianity Today magazine: "In a theological sense, the song is about original sin. You are born into the human race, you're guilty or sinful, no matter what you hope to be. 'Monster' is about the fact that there is somebody we know we don't want to be. Some people call it the old man or the old self. That guy wants to creep out when you're driving and somebody cuts you off. You wonder as a Christian, how do I keep it at bay? I liken it to the idea of a '50s horror film of this beast inside you coming alive."