Imagine Dragons – I Bet My Life

“ASTONISHINGLY good, with one very big caveat.”

Tom: This is currently stuck in a two-month limbo between “official US release” and “official UK release”, so presumably all the fans are ripping it off YouTube and downloading pirated MP3s rather than actually buying off iTunes.

Tim: Oh, don’t be silly. Why would they do that?

Tom: A lot of their fans seem to hate it as being ‘too different’, because it’s not ‘Radioactive’. I’m going to put my cards on the table here: I think this is ASTONISHINGLY good, with one very big caveat.

Tim: Oh? I agree with the ASTONISHINGLY, but where’s the caveat?

Tom: That weird vocal squeak — a gospel singer missing a note? I’ve no idea — is not a good sample. It’s all I can hear in the verses. And it just doesn’t fit: it utterly, utterly kills any section of the song that contains it. How on earth did anyone think “yep, that’s okay, include that”.

Tim: Oh. That part. Um, I don’t mind that, actually. it’s really a problem?

Tom: I want to fade out that sample, just that sample, and let the rest of the absolutely brilliant track shine through. Because LISTEN TO THAT CHORUS. It deserves CAPITAL LETTERS. It’s INCREDIBLE.

Tim: Yes. Yes, it is.