Hello once again everyone!
Welcome back to Nat Reviews, the series where I take a look at a piece of media, typically
music related, and give my thoughts on it!
This week I am going to be taking a look at yet another Imagine Dragons song, I didn't
expect to take a look at another one so soon but yes, this week around I am taking a look
at a song they recently released called Zero!
Let's dive in.
Okay, so I will be a bit honest, I have been a little bit afraid to take a look at this
one.
Like, I know Imagine Dragons usually make excellent music for soundtracks, some of their
best work even, but... the thumbnail for the video on YouTube... it kinda makes me fear
it.
Like, take a look at it for yourself, just a few weeks back they released Natural, a
song that is dark and a bit gritty, especially when compared to their single before that,
that being Born To Be Yours.
Now just a few weeks after Natural they release Zero.
That thumbnail especially has be worried the song won't be good.
Sure that is judging a song by it's thumbnail and all, but I can't help it in
this case.
I know it's a bit odd that I am having this much doubt over a song released by Imagine
Dragons, usually I love them and listen to whatever they put out nearly right away.
I guess I am just scared to hear something bad again from them, Levitate has grown on
me, but as you may know, when I reviewed it last, I didn't have the highest thoughts on
it.
Maybe that's what will happen to this song after a while if I don't like it at first,
maybe?
Ah well, it happened with Shots as well and other songs from other artists, maybe it just
takes some time.
Aaaaa, I am so sorry I am being all nervous about this, goodness.
It has to be decent, right?
It's for Wreck It Ralph's sequel, I liked the first movie and the songs used to promote
it.
It's for a Disney movie, Disney combined with the usual high levels of production Imagine
Dragons has, it has to be good, right?
Or at the least, well produced.
[sounds of uncertainty and worry]
I will give a prediciton and we will see if it is true after this is over, but I think
the song won't be as serious as Natural was.
Like, I really don't believe it will be as dark, but then again, it couldn't be.
It's for a family movie, it can't get dark, riiiight?
*inhales then exhales* Well then...
Uhhhh, that's a thing that just happened.
Okay, so how do I explain this?
Alright okay, sorry.
Okay, so Imagine Dragons really delved in deep into the internet side of things for
this lyric video.
Which by the way yes, lyric video.
As of the writing of this video there is no official music video, just the lyric video.
It kinda acts as it's own music video in a sense, like a few good lyric videos have the
tendency to do now.
In a very basic sense, the video featured the Dragons going through the internet, the
lyrics of the song clearly showing up in the internet and on the computer and phones.
But yes, once they play a cat game, the game downloads a virus?
into their computer, they quickly try to find a solution to get rid of the virus quickly
but it installs it even more.
They all become cats (and they say I am the furry) momentarily in one image that was shown
earlier.
Followed by lots of instances of cats taking over things in the internet.
Once this happens, the Dragons heads pop out in 80s fashion and start shooting lasers out
of their eyes to destroy cats...
What even did I just watch...
They solve the virus and then the artwork for the single shows up, which is then destroyed
by Ralph.
Uhhh, so I can't give an analytical in depth meaning to the video, that's clear.
But I can give thoughts on some things.
If taken too literally, it means the Dragons hate cats and wish to destory them all or
at least stop them taking over the internet while supressing inner furry feelings.
Okay, so I doubt that theory has any standing in reality, but it's just a theory, a *music*
theo- okay, I'm sorry for that.
But overall, I think the video is about a hinting towards the movie, maybe Ralph is
going to install a cat virus and Imagine Dragons are going to show up to fight with him to
take back the internet, who knows.
But yeah, the video may hint towards the movie.
It certainly seems to follow the old idea that the internet is just full of cat videos
and memes however.
Oh right, I just noticed, how stupid of me, I FORGOT I AM REVIEWING A SONG HERE!
My apologies.
Alright, so hm, the song fades in with a 'soundscape' sound, sort of like how Coldplay did things
on Viva la Vida as an album.
Kinda reminds me of some of the songs on Phil Collins'
tracks on the Brother Bear soundtrack.
It then BLASTS you HARD with the eighties in the sound and all.
Y'know, Evolve had subtle 80s soundscaping in it, but it seems with this song especially
that it doesn't even wanna TRY to space itself out from the eighties.
I read that Dan had been listening a lot to The Cure at the time and said that had a lot
of influence.
The song is a bit fast paced, as would be expected from an uptempo 80s sound.
Which by the way is something the group experimented in writing and recording.
I will make one more noteabout the video, the video reminds me very much of a much earlier
track by the group: Pantomime.
The video for that one was eerily similar to this one, all the
way down to the chatbox to the internet being played in the background.
Now, the song is very 80s in sound, it really reminds me of Bleachers' work.
There is a point in the bridge where the song just cuts off instrumentally and even vocally
before the song cuts back in for the final verse.
After that it just drifts out instrumentally until the ending.
At the end of the video when it promotes the single and the movie it comes back
in a 'end of video, click this link' sort of fashion of videos.
Now, I suppose it's time to move on to the lyrical content of this song.
Well, at first it may not seem like much, there is the clear naming correlation of '1s
and 0s' used in binary code, hence the internet.
Disney likely liked that idea.
Disney maybe thought it was all upbeat and nice for their family movie.
However, it's once ya go looking in to things that you
find out otherwise.
Within the lyrics is actually a bit sneaky, it's a joyful and upbeat facade with a hidden
underside in the lyrics that show very dark thoughts.
It talks of the struggles one has had since growing up.
It is eerily similar in one part of it's message in that the person doesn't feel good enough
for anyone else, which is also a theme within Numb, which I reviewed in part
last week.
Huh, that's strange.
But this song is also about feeling like you'll never amount to anything, and how those thoughts
gnaw away at one's self.
It also mentions demigods which can be taken in relation to hoping for a rescue from one's
own life and all the hopeless feelings one may have, showing a really
dark and deep point happened in Dan's growing years.
There are subtle references to suicide and depression laden throughout the song.
Smoke + Mirrors had lots of depression talk in it, so it's likely no mistake that is a
meaning here.
It's also very likely the suicidal one isn't a mistake either as the band has delved on
that before, Dan Reynolds especially has when he made his movie earlier this year, Believer.
The talk of being 27 alot as well is another hint towards the famous group of musicians
that die at 27, which Reynolds has also talked about before in interviews, so it's really
not unfounded that the meanings on suicidal thoughts is in the song.
The thing that shocks me however is that this was a song commissioned by Disney for a family
movie and in a video about laser eyes destroying cats.
The Dragons sure have pulled a fast one on us in making a song sound so joyful but really
isn't a joyful song.
Along with the binary code bit, I also think zero could be taken more literally in that
the song also talks of being an outcast in school, where Dan wasn't part of any subgroups,
popular or anything, he was the garage band kid.
That underdog sort of thing kinda can relate to Ralph himself, being the underdog outcast
in his game, Fix It Felix Jr.
But yeahhh, the song is mostly a dark song, just given a candy coated sheen to ship it
out easier to the younger audiences.
Very impressive to me.
However, I do think I have reached the limit I can say on the video and song, but let's
now move onto my personal thoughts on the song.
Alright, so what were my thoughts of the song itself?
Well, I must say that the production is very clearly high value, as is most of Imagine
Dragons' studio work.
They got Disney as well this time around, so clearly got something
going for them in the production values department.
However, as much as I wanna praise them for sneaking something so dark into the
lyrics of the video, I must admit, the song doesn't really do it for me off the first
few listens.
It's probably a slow burner for me, but eh.
Not realllly sure I like it per se.
I do give it big approval for the hidden message and production value.
It is much easier to the ear than Levitate was but even so, I feel this song is around
that level for their music.
It's not the best, it's also very pop-y, but not as much as Born To Be Yours.
I do enjoy the soundscaping however, it's very nice and reminds me of The Fall from
Smoke + Mirrors.
It has many equivalents to me, it does remind me of Blue October's I Hope You're Happy with
the 80s sound, it also reminds me of Neon Trees' Animal among many other 80s sounding
songs.
Lyrically, the song is EXTREMELY similar to Numb, like no doubt.
It's kinda creepy how similar they are in central theme.
Zero is technically this decade's Numb, wow.
Especially with the line 'I don't want to do it just to do it for you', that really
brought it home in my mind that I finally made the connection.
I don't hate this song, but it's very 'meh' to me.
I think I will walk away with the dark message from it though, likely remembering that most
of all.
They worked hard and well on this song, even if Dan sounds like he has less
energy in the song.
So what would I rate this song?
Ehhh, I give it B- really.
It'll do as a movie soundtrack song, but I am not sure for much
more than that.
The song has it's own charm in a way, and if you're curious, it's in the description
below if you wish to listen to it yourself.
Oh you know the answer is a yes.
You know it by now I enjoy the band, some of their stuff is hit or miss, but when they
hit, they hit hard.
When they miss, it's not by too much.
I am not gonna sit here and act like this is the absolute worst thing ever, it's a fine
song, it just doesn't do it for me.
I don't expect them to put out some heavy hitter every
other month.
I enjoy plenty of their softer stuff, but ehhh, otherwise there isn't much else I can
say about em over this song.
Other than that, I do still enjoy their stuff, I look
forward to a possible third album coming sometime soon, or at least being made soon.
As for the movie, I am not sure I will be looking forward to it, I think the original
movie did fine as it's own movie, not so interested in a sequel.
I was interested in the original idea for a sequel back in the day, when Ralph
would go to the console games.
But now with the internet and all, it feels like a cheap grab at the Emoji Movie.
Which, yikes... that movie is inspiring Disney to try being in
the internet.
The title is even a clear sign the movie is likely going to have 'old boardroom men's
thoughts on internet' all over it.
After the Emoji Movie, I am wary of movies pertaining to the 'omg lol, funny internet'
sort of thing.
Not that I am saying it's a bad idea, it's probably good, it's just not something
I am interested in at the moment.
Wish ya luck with the movie Disney, if it flops, you'll still sell a billion and a half
in merchandise, we got your back.
Alright, so that just about does us here this week!
Hope you've enjoyed our little time together!
You know the typical end of video shenanigans by now of liking and all, so I won't
talk about that.
Plenty of links will be in the description below for the curious!
This has been Nattie and I wish you all a very good day, and if you see any large, flying
kitty heads around, tell them to please return my keys, thank you.
Hello, hello Let me tell you what it's like to be a zero,
zero Let me show you what it's like to always feel,
feel Like I'm empty and there's nothing really
real, real I'm looking for a way out
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