Monsters

On this stripped-down acoustic track, Eric Church addresses the real-life monsters we all deal with in childhood and beyond. I killed my first monster when I was seven years old It melted like butter in my bathroom's 60-watt bulb The meditation on fear drives home Church's message that while it may be easy to deal with a child's irrational fear of the monster under the bed with a comforting parent, the demons of adulthood are a different story. The singer says that he's turned to prayer for strength to face the problems that have come his way as a grown man. Anymore when a restless feelin' keeps me up at night Fallin' on my knees is my new turnin' on the light I keep my faith intact, make sure my prayers are said 'Cause I've learned that the monsters ain't the ones beneath the bed Church is likely reflecting on some scary challenges that he faced in 2017. Shortly after the singer's 40th birthday, he had lifesaving surgery to remove a blood clot caused by a birth defect, and a few months later, Church experienced the tragic Las Vegas Route 91 shooting.

The song was inspired by a simple moment when Church's eldest son, Boone, asked his father to adjust the brightness of his bathroom light before he went to sleep. "That stuck with me that all he needed was more light," Church recalled in a video. "That little bit of light is what made the difference, that's the key. The overall theme of 'Monsters' is that it's not a big blinding light - it's this much light that made the difference."

The incident when Eric Church adjusted the brightness of his bathroom light to help his son go to sleep came back to him after the 2017 Vegas shooting. Right after the tragedy, Church had a songwriting session lined up with Jeff Hyde; they started talking about how everybody needs more light in the same way that Boone did. Inspired they rapidly penned "Monsters." "It will always be a song that I think about where I was at that time in my life, where my kids were, and how just that little bit of light, is what made the difference," explained Church. "That's the key, that's where the second verse goes to and the overall theme of monsters is it's just that much, you know? It's not 'this much.' It's not a big blinding light. It's this much light that made the difference and that little nugget is what I carry with me on that."