Imagine Dragons- Unveils New Single & Cinematic Music Video "Sharks".
Closing in on the imminent arrival of their biggest and boldest body of work to date, GRAMMY®-winning, multi-Platinum band Imagine Dragons uncover a new single and its accompanying blockbuster music video entitled “Sharks” today. In order to introduce “Sharks” to audiences worldwide, Imagine Dragons organized a red-carpet premiere event while on tour this week in Europe. "They have always championed us, ‘Sharks’ pays homage to the city we call home Las Vegas". Dan Reynolds frontman.
Formed in 2009 and featuring lead vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman, Imagine Dragons earned a grassroots following by independently releasing a series of EPs. After Alex Da Kid signed them to his KIDinaKORNER/Interscope label, the band made its major-label debut with the release of Continued Silence, a 2012 EP featuring the 2x platinum breakthrough single “It’s Time.” Night Visions arrived later that year and Imagine Dragons found themselves on a skyward trajectory that saw the album debut at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and became the No. 1 album on Spotify Worldwide for 2013.
This epic anthem sets the stage for the release of the group’s massive and mega-anticipated double-disc opus, Mercury — ACTS 1 & 2 (KIDinaKORNER/Interscope) on July 1. The album is available for pre-order HERE. Target will have an exclusive CD featuring an alternative cover and extra track. Purchase HERE. Following the release of Mercury — ACTS 1 & 2, Imagine Dragons will take to the road and kick off a massive US stadium tour that will begin in August, making stops in Boston, Toronto, and their hometown of Las Vegas before wrapping up in Los Angeles, CA in September. The summer tour marks the bands biggest North American shows of their career. Check out the full itinerary HERE.
In order to introduce “Sharks” to audiences worldwide, Imagine Dragons organized a red-carpet premiere event while on tour this week in Europe. The band shared the video with a global livestream from Gartenbaukino Cinema in Vienna today. The video for “Sharks” made its global broadcast premiere on MTV Live and MTVU, as well as on the MTV Times Square billboards earlier today. Directed by VMA Award winner Drew Kirsch [Taylor Swift], the video is set against the iconic backdrop of the Las Vegas strip and follows Imagine Dragons on the heist of their lives across iconic Las Vegas locations including Bellagio, Allegiant Stadium, Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, “O” by Cirque du Soleil and more.
After taking photos and signing autographs on the red carpet, the members appeared on the theater’s stage to debut the visual for the first time and even share a full-length preview listen of the album for 700 very lucky fans. Following the premiere and playback, they fielded questions from the crowd for over an hour.
Dan Reynolds frontman for Imagine Dragons said, “With the ‘Sharks’ music video our goal was to represent our hometown in the light it deserves - a city of passion, entertainment and art.
Always awake and eccentric. Always an adventure to be had. As a third generation Las Vegan, I love this city and owe our success to it. They have always championed us. ‘Sharks’ pays homage to the city we call home. Las Vegas.”
Imagine Dragons paved the way for their new album with the release of a series of recent anthemic chart topping singles. Thus far, “Bones.” has gathered over 121 million Spotify streams and the accompanying music video has scored 28 million-plus YouTube views. The song also cracked the Billboard Hot 100 and attracted widespread acclaim. Their prior single, the global smash “Enemy,” has racked up more than 1.6 billion combined streams across two versions (including a collaboration with GRAMMY-nominated, East Atlanta-based rapper J.I.D). “Enemy,” which was tapped for Riot Games’ animated series “Arcane,” went No.1 at Alternative Radio and No. 1 at Top 40 Radio. With over 66 million album equivalents and 55 million digital songs sold, not to mention over 110 billion combined streams, Imagine Dragons are one of rock's biggest bands of the past decade, and they've fully reinvented the genre in that time. In short, they own Billboard's Top 3 rock songs of the 2010s — "Believer," "Thunder," and "Radioactive." Formed in 2009, Imagine Dragons developed a grassroots following with a series of independent EPs before making their major-label debut on KIDinaKORNER/Interscope with 2012's Continued Silence EP. That same year, their LP debut NIGHT VISIONS entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2, while lead track "Radioactive" topped Billboard's Hot Rock Songs, won a GRAMMY® for Best Rock Performance, and achieved RIAA Diamond status. After achieving their first #1 at Alt Radio with "Radioactive," the band immediately repeated this feat with "Demons," marking the first back-to-back #1's for the band, with both songs in the Top 5 simultaneously. NIGHT VISIONS is now 7x platinum in the US alone. 2015's platinum-selling Smoke + Mirrors debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
The 3x platinum-selling album EVOLVE followed in 2017, earning a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album and unleashing three No. 1 Alternative radio hits: "Believer," GRAMMY®-nominated "Thunder," and "Whatever It Takes."
All three songs were also top 5 hits at Alternative radio. "Believer" was the quickest song to reach #1 for Imagine Dragons, taking only 8 weeks to reach the top of the charts, with "Thunder" following closely in its rise to the #1 spot.
With these singles, it marked the second time Imagine Dragons had back-to-back #1s, making Imagine Dragons one of only four bands to ever achieve simultaneous Top 5 singles and the only band to repeat this feat. The band's fourth album and platinum-selling, ORIGINS, debuted atop Billboard's Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts, while its lead single "Natural" spent nine weeks at No. 1 at alternative radio. For their fifth studio album—Imagine Dragons’ first new music since 2018—the band teamed up with esteemed producer Rick Rubin. 2021’s MERCURY – ACT 1 debuted in the Billboard 200 top 10, and at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts. It also launched the singles “Wrecked,” “Cutthroat,” and “Follow You,” with the latter reaching No. 1 on both Mediabase’s Alternative Radio and Billboard’s Alternative Airplay charts.
“Follow You” marked the band’s quickest ascent to the top of that Billboard chart, surpassing the respective seven- and eight-week climbs for “Natural” (2018) and “Believer” (2017). Then came “Enemy.” Originally released as the theme to Netflix’s Arcane, the hit racked up more than 4 billion combined global streams across two versions (including a collaboration with GRAMMY®-nominated, Atlanta-based rapper J.I.D), helping make Imagine Dragons the highest streaming American band in the US in 2021. In 2022, they expanded the world of MERCURY with a double album, MERCURY – ACTS 1 & 2, including the single “Bones.” Sorting through personal loss and the biggest existential questions of their career, singer/songwriter Dan Reynolds says the two-part release is about learning to “accept the unknown” and “let go,” healing feelings Imagine Dragons are hoping to share with fans as they embark on some of their biggest shows ever.
PHOTO CREDIT ELIOT LEE HAZEL
COURTESY OF MANDALAY BAY