Imagine Dragons - "I Bet My Life"

[maine]

"Bet My Life" is the lead single to Imagine Dragons' second studio album that is due out next year. It will be released to iTunes on November 3rd. They have been teasing the song's lyrics all week on Twitter.
 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Lyrics}

[Green Baron]

I'm interested to see if they'll go harder or softer with this one.

[maine]

Song is now called "I Bet My Life" and will be released on October 27th.

[Juan Carlos]

This is going to be interesting. Looking forward to it.

[Live Your Life]

Can't wait. I loved their first album.

[Kurt]

PlayIGA now confirms the single release to pop radio Monday at 12:01AM Eastern.

[jma]

Surprised they are releasing this if the album isn't expected until next year. Maybe they'll end up releasing it around X-Mas?

[jma]

Although its probably better they are waiting till 2015, because the album will probably go platinum and we won't be having reports next year saying that "there have been no platinum albums in the year" haha

[surfy]

I'm ready for it, I've just recently realized how good their last singles were. AND SO MUCH RECURRENT AIRPLAY IT'S INSANE!!!

[Mr. Thonk Eyes]

Oct 24, 2014 17:17:38 GMT -5 surfy said:

I'm ready for it, I've just recently realized how good their last singles were. AND SO MUCH RECURRENT AIRPLAY IT'S INSANE!!!

Glad you realized it Surfy!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE their big hits so I'm ANXIOUSLY awaiting this!!!!!!!

[maine]

Oct 24, 2014 17:10:16 GMT -5 jma said:

Surprised they are releasing this if the album isn't expected until next year. Maybe they'll end up releasing it around X-Mas?

Album is tentatively due out in February 2015.

[Kurt]

Oct 24, 2014 14:15:23 GMT -5 Kurt said:

PlayIGA now confirms the single release to pop radio Monday at 12:01AM Eastern.

Aaaand now they don't; plus the adds dates are only for the rock formats. We'll see what happens.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Seems early for a single of they're not releasing the album until February

[Au$tin]

So excited for this!

[H.]

Can't wait for this.

[musicfan20]

Oct 24, 2014 19:14:22 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Seems early for a single of they're not releasing the album until February

They'll probably release another single before then.

[Gabe]

So the people who like "It's Time" and "On Top of the World" will LOVE this.

The people who like "Radioactive" and "Demons" will be slightly disappointed.

[Mr. Thonk Eyes]

Oct 26, 2014 22:29:04 GMT -5 Gabe said:

So the people who like "It's Time" and "On Top of the World" will LOVE this.

The people who like "Radioactive" and "Demons" will be slightly disappointed.

Considering I love all of the above, I don't think I'll be disappointed!!!

[Green Baron]

Oct 26, 2014 22:29:04 GMT -5 Gabe said:

So the people who like "It's Time" and "On Top of the World" will LOVE this.

The people who like "Radioactive" and "Demons" will be slightly disappointed.

What if I like It's Time and Radioactive?

[Gabe]

Oct 26, 2014 22:32:47 GMT -5 Green Baron said:

Oct 26, 2014 22:29:04 GMT -5 Gabe said:

So the people who like "It's Time" and "On Top of the World" will LOVE this.

The people who like "Radioactive" and "Demons" will be slightly disappointed.

What if I like It's Time and Radioactive?

Lol you will like it.

[maine]

On iTunes now!

itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-bet-my-life-single/id933047157

ETA: It's not bad. The chorus is a little annoying and unnecessarily loud. It'll probably grow on me.

[Green Baron]

I really don't like this at all.

Verses are bland, and that chorus is so annoyingly awful.

[Love Plastic Love]

I am so confused by the clip I heard. The chorus and verses don't seem to be from the same song, neither sound much like Imagine Dragons to me, and there appears to be some weird noise in the background that sometimes sounds like a bird or weird person singing?! To be fair, I don't know much ID so the second "issue" may just be me not being familiar with this band beyond the two singles I have heard.

[SoMuchToSay]

I really like it! The chorus is catchy, I don't know what song y'all are hearing! It's a nice, feel good song! Radio should have no problem eating this up! Perfect for the 4th quarter!

[surfy]

Not bad, but their other songs were so much better.

[Kurt]

Upon first listen, all of the noises and vocal layers are built up to the point that they become distracting and annoying to me, particularly in the chorus. We'll see if it grows on me - I thought "Demons" would once it became a single but it never really did.

Also somewhat curious to see how radio responds to this - I have a feeling it's just SiriusXM and its thin playlists, but they were playing "On Top Of The World" in heaviest rotation on their HAC station just a couple months ago, so it doesn't really feel to me like they've been gone for long. I don't think the early length between this and the album is a huge deal, though, since the industry slows down at the end of the year; this could be one of the hits that lasts through the freeze, giving them time to set up a second single in time for album release (granted, this doesn't really strike me as being particularly radio-friendly, and the fact that next week's adds date is only for the rock formats may prevent that potential schedule).

[kanimal]

Oct 27, 2014 0:14:25 GMT -5 Kurt said:

Upon first listen, all of the noises and vocal layers are built up to the point that they become distracting and annoying to me, particularly in the chorus. We'll see if it grows on me - I thought "Demons" would once it became a single but it never really did.

Also somewhat curious to see how radio responds to this - I have a feeling it's just SiriusXM and its thin playlists, but they were playing "On Top Of The World" in heaviest rotation on their HAC station just a couple months ago, so it doesn't really feel to me like they've been gone for long. I don't think the early length between this and the album is a huge deal, though, since the industry slows down at the end of the year; this could be one of the hits that lasts through the freeze, giving them time to set up a second single in time for album release (granted, this doesn't really strike me as being particularly radio-friendly, and the fact that next week's adds date is only for the rock formats may prevent that potential schedule).

I think there are a lot of branding issues at play.

This band is on the mainstream map very much due to "Glee"--and are a project backed by Alex da Kid--which pretty much rules out the idea that they're some rebellious rock-and-roll act.  And they're realists - they know mainstream pop is where the money is.
 
But I get the impression they see themselves as alt-rockers, very much *want* to be alt-rockers and know that they have many fans who value them as alt-rockers (which is why I'm guessing Interscope was so quick to correct that error on PlayIGA, as you noted).

I definitely like the song better than you seem to, but it does seem to be the product of those conflicting forces.  Weird and rootsy enough that it won't feel totally out of place at alt, but poppy enough that it won't be totally ridiculous if pushed to pop.  That kind of hybrid territory is dangerous, though, and I'm not sure they totally excel in either regard with this one.

[H.]

My ears hurt after hearing this. Sounds to much like On Top Of The World (which I hated) for me to like.

[K.]

I like this. Not quite as much as their previous stuff, but I think it has the potential to grow on me as well.

[maine]

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