Blogocentric Formulations

Natural

WDC 48-Hour Challenge: Media Prompt | Prompt ▼

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Imagine Dragons is one of those bands that I don't really understand how they got so famous. A lot of their songs are catchy, sure, and I have a quite a few playlists with their tracks on it, but these guys put up monster numbers in terms of earnings, concert attendance, etc. They're one of the most commercially successful bands of all time and I really scratch my head and wonder why. Are they as bad as some people say? No. Some people act like they're the new Nickelback, and I don't think that's the case. Although, to be fair, I do see a lot of similarities between Imagine Dragons and Nickelback in terms of them probably not deserving all the hate they get, but probably don't deserve the massive fandom that they have either.

Imagine Dragons has claimed sales of 75 million albums worldwide, which puts them in the same territory as Christina Aguilera, Alabama, Nirvana, Kenny G, Bob Marley, The Police, Gloria Estefan, Barry Manilow, KISS, and Aretha Franklin. And just short of artists like Tom Petty, Van Halen, The Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, Tim McGraw, and R.E.M. Considering many of these musical acts started years or even decades before Imagine Dragons formed in 2008, it's a pretty impressive accomplishment how many albums they've sold.

This isn't one of my favorite songs the band has. I'm partial to "It's Time" and "Demons" and "Thunder." Their song "Zero" for the Ralph Breaks The Internet soundtrack is pretty good too. Are they more enduring songs than some of the other people listed above? Can't say that they are.

Someone once made the observation that a lot of pop songs these days (and alternative songs could be included in this) are disposable; they're massive hits when they're playing, but no one remembers them by the time the next song comes around. How many of us still listen to J-Lo's early songs? Or Britney's old albums once the new one drops? But other artists like Taylor Swift or Michael Jackson or Ed Sheeran have this quality to their songs where someone's just as likely to be listening to their earlier stuff as their most recent stuff. It's something I often think about when it comes to modern pop music, and I think - at least for me - Imagine Dragons fits into the former category where the songs are very catchy and popular in the moment, but years later an older song will come on and everyone goes, "Oh yeah, I totally forgot about this song!"

I have a feeling "Natural" is headed in that direction. It was released in 2018 and it's already getting hard to find on playlists now that the band has released half a dozen other singles since then.