Along with losing one of his best friends to suicide, his brother’s wife lost her battle with cancer, and his longtime business manager, who was with Imagine Dragons since their inception, also passed away. Overall, one of the core themes of album is life and death.
A lot of my favorite records growing up had something to this extent, like an A, B side of a cassette tape, back in the day.” “And ‘Cutthroat’ is supposed to be the exact opposite, which is just chaos. “It’s Beach Boys, it’s harmonies, it’s pretty melodies to your ear, and a love song, but over a minor progression,” he says. “Follow You” was composed more as a present, pieced together from the pop elements Reynolds loves most.
‘Cutthroat’ is on the looking inward side, and when we release songs, we’re going to put one from each side, and they’re very sonically different.” “Half of it is about looking out, and half of it is looking inward. The attempt with new album is to get to the truth of what Imagine Dragons is, says Reynolds.”The record is split into two pieces,” says Reynolds. “And a lot of my favorite lyricists-whether it’s Cat Stevens or whether it’s Bob Dylan or Biggie, Tupac-there’s a directness that’s there, and it cuts through all the bullshit.” “He pushed me to be less metaphorical as a writer and to be more direct, which can be more poetic and more powerful,” says Reynolds. On “Cutthroat,” a song Reynolds wrote about a friend who committed suicide a year earlier, he says Rubin pushed him into an uncomfortable place through the track. We had a demo that we had worked on previous to Rick coming in… but it was 50 percent of what “Cutthroat” became.”Įventually, the band broke the batch down to 20 or 30 workable tracks. That was Rick Rubin putting his imprint on the band in a big way. “But ‘Cutthroat,’ he really, really dug in deep with us. “Rick is an essential part of this whole record,” says Reynolds. “Cutthroat” was a song Reynolds says Rubin helped the band flesh out along with organist Cory Henry. The thing that hit me when she sent me that text was the love without expectations, and that for me was very transformative for our relationship.”Īlong with “Follow You,” Imagine Dragons released “Cutthroat,” with producer by Rick Rubin. It’s about sticking it out with whoever it is that you love-even if it’s yourself. “The reality of it is that not all relationships work,” says Reynolds.
“Follow You” was initially composed as a present to his wife. “It was just this incredibly healing, far reaching and very generous text.”Įventually meeting up for lunch, and dates again, the reconciliation with his wife singer Aja Volkman, ended with Reynolds proposing again and the couple having a fourth child together. We’re going to raise our kids together, separately in life and it’s all going to be okay,’” shares Reynolds in a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s New Music Daily. I accept you for everything you are, and I don’t need to own you to love you. “It was a long text, but the basis of it was, ‘I love you. Then, out of the blue, a text changed everything and ignited one of Imagine Dragons’ new singles-the band’s first since Origins, released in 2018-off their fifth upcoming album. At one point, Dan Reynolds says his only communication with his wife was through a third party-divorce attorneys.