There wasn’t much “glitz and glamour,” Reynolds says. I believe that it has to be a lifestyle.”Įarly on, the band struggled. The 10,000-hour rule is a real thing, I think. It was a diary for me since I was a teenager and it still is. “I have thousands of these songs, fully recorded with verses, lyrical melody. “I wrote a song almost every day since I was 12,” he says. But the songwriting process itself took work.
Melody has always come easy to him, he says. Quickly, Reynolds realized he had natural ability, and musical acumen. That’s when he began to pick up on the idea that maybe what he was doing was strange, or at least different than most other kids around him. That his middle school, and later, high school peers didn’t seem to have the same motivations. “Following the path of least resistance tended to bring me constantly to music and instrumentation,” he says.Įventually, he realized he was the only one around him recording a new song every day. When trying to find a reason or pattern behind his early work, Reynolds says that he merely took the “path of least resistance.” Around that time, he started making music and recording songs. At 12 years old, he began taking drum lessons at home. In middle school, he played tenor saxophone in the school jazz band. With piano, he studied the classics: Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. Indeed, Reynolds, who grew up playing piano from ages six to 16, had diverse musical interests as a young person. Yet, for the purposes of an interview, it’s a necessary act. And Reynolds says his sole ambition, speaking in broad terms, at least, is to “do everything and see everything and accomplish everything possible.” Accomplishments merely lead to more doors opening. But the day passes and the next day I’m focused on the fact that I want to write a great song today.” Certainly, when something great happens that I’ve dreamt of ever since I was young, like selling out Madison Square Garden for the first time, it’s like, wow, that’s incredible. I don’t spend much time thinking about the past. My focus is always on the present moment and the future. “If I’m being honest,” he says, “I don’t spend much time thinking about those things. When asked, he remembers as much of the early days hustling in Las Vegas as he does those on stage in front of tens of thousands. But Reynolds’ feet are often planted firmly on the ground. One might assume the group writes songs about fancy cars or taking spaceship rides to Saturn with billionaires, laughing all the way through glasses of champagne. Imagine Dragons is a huge group, both in footprint and sound. It might be a surprising task to square such a big, bombastic band, and one that’s so popular at that, with a group so willing to explore the end, mortality, and demise. “But I like to think of it more as… how important every moment is and how life is fragile and fleeting.” “It’s all kind of morbid,” Reynolds, 35, tells American Songwriter, regarding the subject matter of the new LP. Both are twined by thoughts and the effects that death has had on Reynolds and his surrounding family and friends. Billed as a double album, Mercury-Act 2 dropped on July 1 while its sister LP, Mercury-Act 1 released in September 2021. Reynolds, who has accumulated billions upon billions of song streams, released his latest collection of songs with his anthemic band earlier this month. The morning after such an event, he wants to write the next great song.
The day after selling out a place like MSG, he says, he doesn’t grin from ear-to-ear in rest. While some may hang their proverbial hats on the fact they’ve sold tens of millions of albums, filled venues like Madison Square Garden in New York City, or worked with big names like Kendrick Lamar and Rick Rubin, Reynolds instead keeps his eyes and mind looking largely forward. Dan Reynolds, frontman for the uber-successful band Imagine Dragons, is fully aware that time is fleeting.
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