Blogocentric Formulations

Imagine

"The Soundtrack of Your Life"  | Day 6

"Imagine"
by Ben Platt

Ben Platt has a remarkable voice. I've been a fan of his since his early debut about ten years ago in the first Pitch Perfect movie, although most people probably know him from his Tony-winning performance as the titular character in Dear Evan Hansen, which debuted on Broadway in 2016. By the way, there are few movies I'm less excited about than the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen. While I understand the business reasons why someone would want to adapt a hit Broadway musical into a movie, it's one of those things where creatively it makes no sense to me why you would want to adapt something that's basically already perfect. The Broadway show is incredible... we don't need a movie version of the same thing. They'd be better off doing what Hamilton did and just releasing a highly-produced recording of the Broadway show itself for those who aren't able to make it to a live stage performance.

This song is the first single off Platt's second studio album (Reverie). The single came out in April of last year, with the album following in August 2021. He initially conceived of the song during the COVID-19 pandemic while quarantined and isolated from loved ones. The song, as he puts it really beautifully, is about "the way that our loved ones, the people that make life worth living, can turn the mundanity of suburbia into something magical and fantastical. Everyone has that person or people that make their world technicolor, fueling us with a love that can feel supernatural." Which also explains the direction of the somewhat odd music video.

Random fun fact: Ben Platt is currently in a relationship with Noah Galvin who replaced him as the title character in Dear Evan Hansen when Platt left the production.