The Singles Jukebox

Now here’s a band we always enjoy.. being kinda mean about.

[Video][Website]
[3.50]

Tim de Reuse: I’m a simple guy, I enjoy life’s simple pleasures; for example, I see a new Imagine Dragons single and I think “Oh, boy! How am I going to hate the way this was overproduced?” Well, they feel a little less plasticky than usual, which is pleasant — Ah, but they’ve done new and interesting things to the vocals on this one, casting off the shackles of dynamic range and scrubbing them free of everything but an unpleasant struggling to claw its way out of the singer’s throat. All bombast, no impact; never change, fellas, never change.
[3]

Alfred Soto: If their lyrics had hints of wit, they could be as emphatically tasteless as Electric Six. But streamable halitosis ain’t my idea of fun at the gay bar.
[1]

Micha Cavaseno: I never would’ve expected that the “R&B gimmicks as done by shouty white dudes meant specifically for contemporary rock stations” (see Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer,” Nick Jonas’ “Jealous”) style might be a threat that would remanifest so often as it does, but then again of course Imagine Dragons would try to deploy that. It’s a lot of cheap gestures at dynamic, the number one strength of the band, but there’s no denying that the constant trapdoors of melodramatic flair and bulging-neck-vein projection play their parts well.
[6]

Edward Okulicz: You’ll have to take my word for it, but me doing Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer” at karaoke is a [10] so I feel very, very positive about this chorus. It’s rhythmically interesting, and at least in the outro, has some surprising depth. It’s true that it’s quite difficult to be as butch as this song wants to be with one nostril blocked completely, but empty rock anthems give plentiful cover to bands who deal in empty cliches and bloated gestures of anthemics. I’m not sure who all the people are who are buying Imagine Dragons records are, but it’s not me and I still wouldn’t turn this one off.
[7]

Vikram Joseph: A flaccid stomp which sounds like a coked-up Maroon 5 re-imagining Santana’s “Smooth,” and yet somehow much worse than that.
[1]

Stephen Eisermann: Yelling clichés is never a mood, at least not a serious one. I’m also not sure that this weird pop-rock/spoken word hybrid even fully qualifies as a song with its steam-punk production and lack of discernible melody. Basically, I’m confused.
[3]