Flashback Review: Imagine Dragons - Believer
Year Released: 2017
This review was suggested by a friend, making it the first suggested post on this blog.
Imagine Dragons have slowly become one of the most popular modern musical acts in America. This is mostly due to their strong pop-rock style. Believer is one of the group's most iconic singles, and it is the one we are going to take a look at today.
Believer is driven by a strong, percussive, base from the moment it starts. Not too different from the one at the heart of Queen's classic We Will Rock You, except more 21st century in the usage. Depending on whether you like this type of percussion, your opinion will likely differ.
Lyrically, Believer is about anger and drive to believe due to pain. Its angsty frustration is not something too new but is well done. The steps-style is similar to that in several songs recently, such as U-Know's Thank U. The wordy verses are especially a delight.
The verses are a delight anyway. They are ambitious and are perfectly atmospheric. Dan Reynolds's voice is perfect for this material, but I do wish he modulated his voice out of his base zone.
The chorus is a little screamo at times. The pitch is somewhat uncomfortable, and the melody is simply not there. Over time, the chorus does settle, but I wish it fulfilled the promise of the verses in a stronger fashion. The rock elements here do settle the thing, and the second phase is certainly much more enjoyable.
If there is one major criticism I have for this song, it is the lack of experimentation. Typical to ABC releases from the time, the song never moves too much from its home base. A few more surprises would make this legendary. Still, this is overall one of the stronger ABC releases of the last past 5 years.
Interesting! I'd rate this song a 6. But the lyrics are substantially better, because Imagine Dragons does make amazing lyrics so maybe a 7. But I do agree to your points. My main gripe with this is that the radioplay of that song in my country is just vehemently destroying it.
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics are good.
DeleteThat is the reason I avoid the radio, it overplaying can ruin several great songs. I usually just listen to the local Bollywood and 80s Western pop radios. Nothing else is worth the risk of destroying the songs.
That is excessively true. Radio here is just so obnoxiously well heard, like there is TV, but at the same time the radio is playing. It is just irritating sometimes. I also try to avoid it as much as possible but well. I just cannot it is so well spread I cannot escape it. But since 2020, the radio has finally been destroyed for me.
DeleteI somehow have managed to avoid the radio unless needed. I appreciate it a lot. Before streaming and easy access to music, it is how music was discovered. But now when we can pick our songs, the radio becomes counter-intuitive. It still is great, but only with proper usage.
DeleteIndeed! I'm glad that pesky radio will be no more for me. K-Pop actually saved be from being insane due to the radio. Glad J-Pop may be there too. I just love streaming and MP3 downloads more than that obsolete format. But well... it will stay.
Delete