Succinct and to the purpose, the title of Think about Dragons’ third album, Evolve, mentioned all of it. The Las Vegas quartet arrived with a bang with their multi-platinum 2012 debut, Evening Visions, in 2012, and did additional heavy lifting with 2015’s chart-topping Smoke + Mirrors, but they knew they nonetheless needed to go additional to make sure their longevity. The next ten-month world tour in assist of Smoke + Mirrors successfully drew a line below the band’s first section. But, whereas Think about Dragons knew they couldn’t withdraw from the frontline indefinitely, they may afford to retreat for a much-needed break, which they took in the course of the early a part of 2016.
Take heed to the Think about Dragons album Evolve proper now.
A brief break
“It was the first time we took time off the road for almost six years, which I think we needed,” frontman Dan Reynolds mirrored in a 2017 Music Week interview. “We were all really burnt out in a lot of ways. We wanted to give the world a break from us as well, because I think they were burning out on us.”
The band didn’t completely shut up store, as they nonetheless performed sporadic exhibits and contributed to the soundtracks for motion pictures akin to Passengers and the DC Comics-related Suicide Squad. Nonetheless, their much-needed battery recharge ensured they have been again in what Reynolds referred to as “a really healthy headspace” once they started stockpiling an abundance of fabric for his or her third album.
The album
“We like to write a lot, so we already come to the studio with a lot of ideas,” guitarist Wayne Sermon advised US publication Atwood, in July 2017. “So it’s really just a matter of picking and choosing, editing and recording the songs for real.”
A logical development from the “pop music that’s very current” which made Smoke + Mirrors such an infinite thrill, Evolve was contemporary, vibe-y, and as soon as once more filled with songs that had crossover potential. Stuffed with superior stadium-sized rock music strategically tempered with electronica, Evolve’s tracklist harbored quite a few potential hits (“Whatever It Takes,” “Thunder,” the rousing, Depeche Mode-esque “Believer”) and in addition a number of notable departures such because the filmic “I Don’t Know Why” and the sparse, club-friendly “Dancing In The Dark”: the latter clearly bearing the stamp of co-producer Alex Da Child, whose credit additionally embrace Nicki Minaj, Dr. Dre, and Eminem.
Reynolds’ lyrics additionally often referenced change and regeneration, with the extremely rapid refrain to “Yesterday” (“Here’s to my future, goodbye to my yesterday!”) greatest exemplifying the band’s newfound positivity. Certainly, because the singer later advised Music Week, he felt that Think about Dragons’ third album wasn’t only a development, however extra of a rebirth. “I feel like [Evolve] is a point of arrival for us in many ways,” Reynolds mentioned. “It’s the first record we’ve put out where I feel, sonically, it’s cohesive. It speaks for what Imagine Dragons is and it’s taken us years to find it – but part of that searching process was great.”
The response
The band’s burgeoning military of followers agreed that their heroes had returned at their life-affirming greatest, and their chart positions quickly bore this out. Evolve’s first two singles, “Believer” and the fundamental “Thunder,” each shot to No.4 on the Billboard Scorching 100, whereas the album itself – launched through Interscope/KIDinaKORNER on June 23, 2017 – peaked at No.2 on the Billboard 200, guaranteeing that Think about Dragons remained within the highlight everywhere in the world.
Helped alongside by some well-observed critiques (together with NME’s, which hailed the album as “an 80s-flecked, power-rock pumping station fit to burst with huge choruses”), Evolve additionally loved a strong afterlife. Think about Dragons supported the file with a prolonged world tour, kicking off in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 26, whereas in March 2018 they made historical past by changing into the primary act in historical past to monopolize the highest 4 spots on Billboard’s Different Digital Songs chart, with Evolve’s quartet of singles, “Believer,” “Thunder,” “Whatever It Takes” and “Next To Me.”
By this stage, the album was already racking up multi-platinum gross sales, and Think about Dragons have been desirous about shaping their fourth album, 2018’s Origins. Nonetheless, as Dan Reynolds knowledgeable Music Week, making Evolve had been a turning level. Its creation had refreshed the band.
“[Evolve] really was a fun record,” he furthered. “Now we’ve reached a point where I just feel happy and confident with where we are. I’m happy with what we’ve done and what Imagine Dragons stands for – and excited for the future!”
The Think about Dragons album Evolve may be purchased right here.
