Beautiful Liar (Monsta X song)

"Beautiful Liar" is a song recorded by the South Korean boy group Monsta X for their twelfth extended play Reason. It was released as the EP's lead single by Starship Entertainment and Kakao Entertainment on January 9, 2023.

Background and release
In December 2022, Monsta X announced their comeback by releasing the coming soon image of their twelfth EP Reason through their official SNS, in an intense black image and the release date announced on January 9, 2023.

On December 20, the track listing was released, with "Beautiful Liar" confirmed as the lead single.

Joohoney, Hyungwon, and I.M participated in writing its Korean lyrics, alongside Brother Su and Kim Eung-ju.

The choreography's killing point expresses the feeling of a "snake" ruling the whole body, through the movement that seems to control the mouth from the arm, accompanied by choreography of covering the entire face with one hand, and in which everyone leans their heads and bodies back.

Composition
"Beautiful Liar" is a rhythmical and powerful punk rock-style song that sings the reason for love found in the most extreme and dangerous relationship, with a highly addictive beat and high-quality vocals and performance, providing a more intense sense of immersion. It can also be described as a hip-hop- and dance-based track with irresistible punk-rock influences, which give the song its earworm quality, a gorgeous blend of sonic intensity and sauciness.

Music video
On January 5, Monsta X released the first teaser of the music video through their official SNS. The video begins with a tense scene, in which unknown people run in droves with a rhythmic beat. Led by I.M, who appears exuding a strong presence in a red leather outfit, the members walk towards somewhere, creating a sandstorm. Then, the video ends with the two members, being put in a confrontation situation and running towards each other as if attacking. On January 6, the second teaser of the music video was released, which begins with an intense beat and sound. In the concert hall lit up with colorful lights, Monsta X is on the main stage and is receiving cheers from many people, and the performance made by the members is revealed little by little in the scene passing by with a sense of speed. At the end of the video, few of I.M's unique and attractive bass notes are revealed.

The music video, directed by Highqualityfish, was released alongside the song, through Starship Entertainment and 1theK's YouTube channels on January 9, 2023. It portrays their powerful performance from an abandoned warehouse as it catches on fire. Elsewhere in the video, it can be seen that, they stumble through a faceless crowd, as they reckon with their conflicting emotions. Tapping into the dangerous nature of love, the music video features the members performing in arena set ablaze, clad in leather ensembles, which capture the track's sonic potency in sleek choreographed moves and rebellious expressions. The music video shows the members of Monsta X take the stage in front of a crowd full of mysterious people dressed in all black, features imagery of chains and a horse in a red tent.

Promotion
On January 10, their comeback showcase was held to commemorate the release of their twelfth EP Reason, including "Beautiful Liar", through Naver Now, along the release of the global K-pop rhythm game SuperStar Starship's limited-themed digital card for "Beautiful Liar". Monsta X also subsequently appeared on several music programs, including Mnet's M Countdown on January 12, KBS2's Music Bank on January 13, MBC's Show! Music Core on January 14, and SBS' Inkigayo on January 15.

Critical reception
Jang Jun-hwan of IZM described "Beautiful Liar" as an "elegant pop grammar with various colors". Jang also added that "the sharp electric guitar and heavy drums, which seem to have been inspired by Kanye West's "Black Skinhead", have produced the existing wild beauty, but they did not miss the sense of creating the "killing part" which they learned from All About Luv and The Dreaming". Jang emphasized "I.M and Jooheon's raps, which alternately use power, draw tension over and over again, and Hyungwon's hook injects sweetness in the right place, that despite its light composition, the song still penetrates the ears excellently and announces its presence".

Taylor Glasby, writing for Dazed, said that as a curveball, it "dissects and reassembles its structure with steely precision", giving "heady and hypnotic, a teasing, persistent spiral of sound", which makes it a "slithery banger".

Commercial performance
Upon the release, it topped the iTunes Top Song Single Chart and iTunes Top K-pop Song Chart. The music video also ranked on YouTube's Rapidly Rising Video and topped the Music videos trending worldwide, as well as placing at number 5 on YouTube Korea popular music video, for the week of January 6 to 12, with 505,341 views.

"Beautiful Liar" succeeded in charting on South Korea's major music sites such as Melon, Bugs!, and Genie. It charted at number 15 on Circle Digital Chart, for the week of January 8 to 14, with 9,878,778 digital points, as well as at number 8 on Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, for the week of January 6 to 12. The track also charted at number 75 on Circle Digital Chart, for the month of January, with 18,775,422 digital points.

Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Melon.


 * Monsta X – vocals
 * Joohoney – lyrics
 * Hyungwon – lyrics
 * I.M – lyrics
 * Brother Su – lyrics
 * Kim Eung-ju – lyrics
 * Ryan S. Jhun – composition, arrangement
 * Marc Sibley – composition
 * Nathan Cunningham – composition
 * Josh Cumbee – composition
 * SLAY – composition
 * AVIN – composition
 * Lauren Aquilina – composition
 * Marcus Andersson – composition
 * Space Primates – arrangement