Key Takeaways
- North West takes it back to Meg & Dia’s Warped Tour-era underground hit “Monster” on her debut EP, out today.
- Sisters Meg and Dia Frampton were a staple of the mid-2000s Warped Tour scene, and were known for high-profile tours with Tom DeLonge’s Angels & Airwaves and more.
- Dia Frampton also appeared on the first season of The Voice.
North West taps into the John Steinbeck-influenced power of Meg & Dia’s 2006 underground staple “Monster” on the opening track to her debut EP N0rth4evr, out today (May 1).
For those who may be unfamiliar with the MySpace-era track, taken from the duo’s Something Real album, we’re taking a closer look below. But first, a reminder: North’s EP release is being commemorated with an exclusive pop-up experience at Complex LA. Here’s everything you need to know, including how to RSVP and what to expect.
North West samples Meg & Dia’s “Monster” on N0rth4evr opener “H0w Sh0uld ! f33l”
On “H0w Sh0uld ! f33l,” the opener to the debut EP from 12-year-old North, the eldest child of Kim Kardashian and the artist formerly known as Kanye West, those who were in the proverbial trenches for Warped Tour’s cultural peak will recognize the distinctly haunting vocals of “Monster,” a Meg & Dia track originally released back in 2006.
Specifically, North’s song opens with, and later repeats, the chorus (“Monster, how should I feel? / Creatures lie here, looking through the window”) from the Something Real single, which proved to be a staple of the MySpace era.
Meg & Dia is a duo comprised of sisters Meg and Dia Frampton
Sisters Meg and Dia Frampton made their studio debut with 2005’s Our Home Is Gone, followed one year later by the “Monster”-featuring Something Real. The duo-turned-band toured extensively during this period, frequently opening for acts associated with the era’s pop-punk and emo boom.
In 2007, for example, they hit the road with blink-182 co-founder Tom DeLonge’s Angels & Airwaves project, who were touring in support of their I-Empire album at the time. Meg & Dia also collaborated with Macbeth Footwear, a brand founded by DeLonge in the early 2000s.
Additional Meg & Dia albums followed, including Here, Here and Here; Cocoon; happysad; December, Darling; and (most recently as of this writing) Mosaic. Notably, Dia was a runner-up on the first season of The Voice in 2011. The following year, Meg & Dia was confirmed to have broken up, though the split ultimately proved temporary, leading to a reunion in 2019.
At one point, the Utah-born sisters were signed to Warner Brothers. “Monster,” as of this writing, has more than 66 million streams on Spotify alone.
Meg & Dia’s North West-sampled “Monster” is inspired by John Steinbeck
Per Meg, as seen in this 2006 LiveJournal post, the writing of “Monster” was inspired by East of Eden, the classic 1952 novel by the late Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. The track also features a nod to J.D. Salinger.
Both Meg and Dia Frampton are credited as composers on North West’s “H0w Sh0uld ! f33l” alongside Ruby Mitchelle, Will Frenchman, and North herself.
Have Meg and Dia Frampton spoken publicly about the North West sample?
As of this writing, seemingly, they have not. Complex has reached out to their reps for comment.
