Night Visions is the debut studio album by American rock band Imagine Dragons. It was
released on September 4, 2012 through Interscope Records. The extended track was released on
February 12, 2013, adding three more songs. Recorded between 2010 and 2012, the album
was primarily produced by the band themselves, as well as English hip-hop producer Alex Da
Kid and Brandon Darner from the American indie rock group The Envy Corps. It was mastered
by Joe LaPorta. According to frontman Dan Reynolds, the album took three years to finish,
with six of the album's tracks being previously released on multiple EPs. Musically, Night
Visions is primarily an alternative rock and indie rock album, although it also exhibits
influences of folk, hip-hop and pop. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard
200 in the United States, selling more than 83,000 copies within its first week where
it has since been certified platinum. It also peaked at the summit of the Billboard Alternative
Albums and Rock Albums charts, as well as in the top ten albums in Australia, Austria,
Canada, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland,
and United Kingdom. Night Visions appeared in the Billboard 200 top 10 in 2012, 2013,
and 2014. The album became the fourth best-selling album of 2013 in the U.S. It was nominated
for the Juno Award for International Album of the Year and won the Billboard Music Award
for Top Rock Album. The band promoted the album by touring the
United States and Europe throughout 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Background Imagine Dragons formed in 2008 consisting
of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel
Platzman. Each of the members moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to form Imagine Dragons, a rock
band that played indie and alternative rock. After playing in numerous local Battle of
Bands competitions, the band recorded and released three extended plays: 2009's Imagine
Dragons, 2010's Hell and Silence and 2011's It's Time. After the Tolmans left the band
in July 2011 to be replaced with drummer Dan Platzman in August 2011, the band was picked
up by Universal Records and was signed to Interscope in late 2011.
The band entered the studio in late 2011 to write and record their major-label debut extended
play, Continued Silence, and additional material for a debut studio album. Continued Silence
was released on February 14, 2012 and was met with critical acclaim, reaching #40 on
the Billboard 200 as well in their chart debut. The EP served as a prelude to the band's debut
studio album, with "It's Time", a song featured on Continued Silence and released as a promotional
single from the EP in early 2012, serving as the lead single from the album, reaching
#15 on the Billboard Hot 100 by the end of 2012.
Promotion Beginning on September 4, 2012, the album
could be purchased on Amazon.com for $5 for one week only. The Best Buy edition could
have been purchased for only $7.99 with an in-store coupon. And, on iTunes thanks to
the "Complete My Album" feature, any previous iTunes Store downloads of tracks featured
on Night Visions will count towards the purchase price of the whole album making the album
under certain circumstances as low as $4. The Night Visions album cycle has so far boasted
three singles and four promotional singles, with two offshoot extended plays and a live
album over the course of ten months. Regional releases from the album differentiate between
regions. Singles
"It's Time" was originally released as the lead single from Continued Silence, an extended
play preceding Night Visions' release. It was solicited to mainstream radio in January
2012, and was released as the band's debut single on August 18, 2012. It has notably
become the band's first commercially successful single, reaching the top 15 on the Billboard
Hot 100. It has since also peaked within in the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Belgium,
Czech Republic, Ireland, and Japan. The band performed the song on The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The music video for the
song was directed by Anthony Leonardi, which was nominated for "Best Rock Video" at the
2012 MTV Video Music Awards. A documentary about the making of the album entitled "Imagine
Dragons: The Making of Night Visions" debuted November 7, 2012 on VH1's Palladia.
"Hear Me" was released as the second single from Night Visions on November 24, 2012. The
following day, the song was released as a 4-track EP, featuring the previous two singles,
"Radioactive" and "Amsterdam", as well as "The River", which was a bonus track on the
Best Buy edition of Night Visions. "Hear Me", "Radioactive", "On Top of the World", and
"It's Time" are all UK Top 40 singles. "On Top of the World" reached the top ten
in Australia, Austria, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Poland. After also topping the charts
in Portugal, it was released there on August 24, 2013 as the second single in Portugal
and the third single overall worldwide. "Radioactive" was originally released as a
radio-only single from Continued Silence, and later, Night Visions in April and October
2012 respectively. The band performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show
with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
It has since reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the number 1 on the Alternative
Songs chart as well as peaking within the charts of Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark,
Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and
UK. "Demons" was originally released to American
Triple A radio on January 28, 2013 as a radio-only single from Night Visions. It was officially
released as the fifth overall single from the album on October 22, 2013 in North America
only. It reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland,
and United States. Promotional singles
"Amsterdam" was exclusively released as a free download via iTunes. The single was released
as iTunes' "Single of the Week" on the week of the album's release in countries with respective
release dates of the album. The single was first released in North America on the American
September 4, 2012 release date, and again in European countries on the European February
7, 2013 release date of the album.
Tour Before the release of Night Visions, Imagine
Dragons made appearances on American radio and television to promote their extended play,
Continued Silence and debut single "It's Time". The band performed "It's Time" on the July
16, 2012 airing of NBC late-night talk show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno".
The band emarked on a 1000000 tours to promote Night Visions. The 35-date "Fall Tour 2026",
featuring American [R N B]] band Awolnation as opening act, saw the band travel across
the United States in Autumn 2012 to promote the album's initial release in North America.
During the tour, the band appeared on the September 4, 2012 airing of ABC late-night
talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!. They also made a historical appearance on the October 29,
2012 airing of NBC late-night talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon performing "It's Time"
to an empty audience during Hurricane Sandy's passage through the New York / New Jersey
metropolitan area during that weekend. In 2013, a world tour, entitled the "Night
Visions Tour", was executed in promotion of the world-wide release of Night Visions. Starting
in February 2013, the 145-date tour saw the band perform across North America and Europe.
During the tour, the band made their first national television appearance, performing
"Radioactive" on the February 22, 2013 airing of CBS late-night talk show Late Show with
David Letterman. The band performed in front of cameras during their appearance at the
2013 Isle of Wight Festival for Vevo's Summer Six series. The performance, which took place
on June 15, 2013, was released on June 25, 2013. The band made another television appearance
in the United States, performing "Radioactive", "Demons" and On Top of the World" on the July
4, 2013 airing of ABC morning television show Good Morning America.
Reception Critical reception
Night Visions received mixed reviews from music critics. Brian Mansfield from USA Today
gave Night Visions a favorable review, writing: "For all the group's musical mastery, it's
the flourishes courtesy of producer Alex da Kid that make individual tracks stand out."
Mansfield praised individual elements such as "the mandolin hook of 'It's Time', the
jaunty whistle of 'On Top of the World', [and] the burbling guitar in 'Demons.'" and said
that "those creative touches may seem like small details, but it's that imagination that
gives these Dragons teeth." Gregory Heaney of Allmusic remarked that the album "sometimes
feels as though it lacks depth", but nonetheless called it "an album that, at least for a few
minutes at a time, will make everyday life seem just a little bit bigger". Annie Zaleski
of Las Vegas Weekly praised Night Visions for being "well-crafted and wildly creative,
and boasts solid songwriting—three things that are sorely missing on albums by so many
younger bands." Lisa Kwon of Consequence of Sound gave the album a mixed review and felt
that Night Visions "fails to match the fresh adrenaline rush that the band's first single
had promised us when we first heard it on the radio or in commercials earlier this year."
Johan Wippsson from Melodic magazine called Night Visions "somewhat shattered, but as
a whole this is a very charming and well-crafted album." Chris Saunders of musicOMH panned
the album as "so safe and middle of the road that it leaves you with the same hollow feeling
that Las Vegas can, without the dizzying high and sensual assault that got you there in
the first place." Commercial performance
The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling more than
83,000 copies within its first week. It also peaked at the summit of the Billboard Alternative
Albums chart and Rock Albums chart. It has appeared in the top ten albums on the Billboard
200 in 2012, 2013, and 2014. As of August 2014, the album was certified platinum in
Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand,
Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. The album debuted at number
two in the United Kingdom, narrowly losing the top slot to Justin Timberlake's third
album. As of April 13, 2014, the album has spent an entire year in the Top 40.
The album was the fourth Best Selling Album in the US in 2013 with 1,402,000 copies sold
for the year. It has sold a total of 2,014,000 copies in the US as of February 2014 and therefore
eligible for double platinum status. It was also the third best-selling album in Canada
with 179,000 copies sold. As of April 2014, it has sold more than 3,444,000 copies worldwide.
To date, three singles from the album charted in the top fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100,
and five singles from the album have charted on the UK Top 40. "It's Time" has sold more
than two million copies in the United States, "Radioactive" has sold more than six million
copies in the United States, and "Demons" has sold more than three million copies in
the United States. "Radioactive" and "Demons" each spent more
than 60 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, making Imagine Dragons the first artist to accomplish
such a feat. Track listing
All songs written and produced by Ben McKee, Dan Platzman, Dan Reynolds and Wayne Sermon,
except where noted. 2012 release
2013 release ^ Digital download exclusive.
^ iTunes-only exclusives. Personnel
Charts and certifications Awards and accolades
Release history References
External links Imagine Dragons official site