Imagine Dragons are back: how the group won over gamers’ ears
A band may feel they have reached a certain stage in their career when they find themselves playing a song from Beatles in front of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Imagine Dragons – known for titles like Radioactive Or Believer – achieved an additional feat: finding himself on stage with the legendary Koji Kondo, a Japanese composer associated with Nintendo licenses Mario And Zelda.
It is The Washington Post who tells This moment, which occurred in 2014 during the first edition of the Game Awards (which are intended to be the Oscars of video games), in Las Vegas. “I was even more in big fan mode than when I was playing in front of McCartney,” jokes Dan Reynolds. The singer and founder of the American band is himself a passionate gamer, and it is no coincidence that his group has also composed tracks for video games.
This June 28, the group releases its sixth studio album: Loom. The Washington daily explains:
“We once again find the sound that is the group’s trademark: songs that make you want to move, bombarded with sound effects and catchy choruses.”
If the general atmosphere is brighter than in previous opuses, we find in a song like Eyes Closed clues that the boasting is just a facade to protect oneself, explains Dan Reynolds at Washington Post. As the daily newspaper recalls, “The lyrics of many of Imagine Dragons’ songs touch on Reynolds’ struggle with depression. Well-known classics like Thunder (released in 2017, on the album Evolve) chronicle Reynolds’ resilience in the face of overwhelming doubts.”
“League of Legends” on tour
Imagine Dragons’ association with the video game world has been gradual, but the group is now firmly anchored in this landscape. So much so that the article in the American newspaper is written by Gene Park, its video game specialist. The latter highlights the latest achievements of the four friends in this field, such as the song Children of the Sky in the game’s soundtrack Starfield, released in summer 2023. Or Enemy, which serves as the theme song for the animated Netflix series Arcane, adapted in 2021 from the very popular arena game League of Legends.
Dan Reynolds emphasizes that he did not seek out these partnerships himself, it was representatives from the gaming world who came to him and he accepted all these projects. “Listen, I have the build of a wardrobe mirror but I never did any sport, and I was more into music and theater. So, people don’t imagine me as a gamer at all even though I love it. It’s really our world,” he concludes, adding that the other members are also video game enthusiasts, which they play during their tours. “We once started a concert late because we were finishing part of League of Legends !”
