Next To Me- Imagine Dragons Review

Imagine Dragons have been doing pretty well recently, with two top five hits and a number two album that's stayed in the top 20 for more than a year. I even went to their concert, on the US leg of their first tour for EVOLVE. On the wave of all this success, they've released this song, Next To Me, and their second EVOLVE world tour, featuring Grace VanderWaal.


The song with some basic acoustic drumming that feels like a cheesy Garageband loop, but luckily some folksy acoustic guitar that wouldn't be out of place in a Vance Joy song comes in, and covers over it. Dan Reynolds launches straight into the theme of the song, with his longing yet bewildered lyrics that the person he's longing for wants him back. His voice is a bit of a drag, but he commands it very well and you know he's doing it intentionally, so at least there's talent there. The chorus isn't as much of a classic Imagine Dragons intrumental buildup, more going toward a U2-style proto moan, with tons of reverb. There's some electronic gospel like oohs in the background, which are okay, but not really good as the main thing in the instrumental section beyond the guitars. They do work better in the bridge, a breakdown to some straight apology/ grateful stuff. This part is mixed very well. Then the last chorus is perpetrated (yes, perpetrated), a crime to the rest of the song, The mixing is pretty poor, with the guitar too far back, the horrible drumbeat up front, and a backing gospel vocalist ruining the end.

Basically, Imagine Dragons had and idea, but didn't carry through with it well. This happens with a lot of arena rock bands, who come with a great song that would be better if it was mixed slightly differently, or at a faster pace or whatever. This song is a bit weird, as it was added directly to the album EVOLVE, even thought EVOLVE came out last year. the artwork occasionally used for it fits with the whole EVOLVE theme, but is it a b-side they forgot to or wanted to add later, or is it just promotional for their new tour? Anyways, I'm going to see that tour- in the Radio 104.5 B-day party day two, mainly to see Sir sly, but I'm also looking forward to Imagine Dragons, Judah and the Lion and Missio, too.

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