Music Notes

In Your Corner, by ID

My seventh track is a deep cut off of the 2024 Imagine Dragons album Loom. In an attempt to make the writing of these blog posts easier on myself—and y'all!—I'll try to focus around three questions: what does it sound like, what is it about, and what does it mean to me? These will hopefully provide a brief roadmap to summarize my thoughts.

Sound
In Your Corner is typical of Loom in that it has an unexpected style. Indeed, nearly every track startled me first time around with unique, funky production elements. This is partly because ID brought Swedish producers Mattman and Robin to help them out with it. This pair liked to take an unconventional approach, and it shows.

The song begins and ends with a gentle (perhaps looming) string-based synth wave which perfectly captures the cover art. I'm a highly visual listener, and to me the intro and outro paint a sunrise or sunset. Perhaps this is the one song which encapsulates the sound of Loom as an album.

Theme
Dan's lyrics discuss a fading relationship, presumably with his ex-wife Aja Volkman. He approaches it in what I feel is a mature manner, reminding the one he's speaking to of his fidelity through the years. Last year I compared the direct, interpersonal theme of this song with the deeply self-absorbed, metaphorical moodiness of a track off ID's 2015 album Smoke + Mirrors, recognizing Dan's growth as a person and as a songwriter.

I remarked in my journal at the time that the chorus has a Phil Collins simplicity and catchiness to it. It's the kind of chorus which is quite easy to remember and sing along with.

One of the elements which puzzled me at first is the deep background voice saying "hold on! Keep your hands up!" I couldn't understand why this was inserted, and my imagination built up all kinds of fanciful scenarios, since the only thing I could think of to associate with "keep your hands up" was being under arrest!

I looked into the phrase "in your corner" and discovered it comes from boxing, where you have a coach in your corner to advise you and be on your side. Then I found that "keep your hands up" is a bit of boxing advice, which would presumably be shouted from that very corner during a match. This explains why the phrase would be included in the song.

Significance
Sitting here this evening writing while listening to In Your Corner, I realize I haven't listened to the studio version since last year when it was released. It brings back memories of where I was last summer, sitting up late, watching the moon outside my window, playing my songs… I can't help reflecting how in a parasocial sort of way Dan Reynolds is speaking to all of us, reminding us how he's been here all along; his music is always "in our corner" waiting for us.

The version I've listened to more recently is the VEVO Extended Sessions live video, which I've downloaded to my playlist. It's more muted and acoustic than the studio, and Dan's sincerity of emotion comes through strongly.

Words: 540.