Smoke + Mirrors

src: i.ytimg.com

Smoke Mirror is the second studio album by American rock band, Imagine Dragons. The album was recorded during 2014 at the band's home studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. Produced by band members jointly with British hip-hop producer Alexander Grant, known by the moniker Alex da Kid, the album was released by Interscope Records and the label KIDINAORNER Grant on February 17, 2015, in the United States.

The album received mixed public reviews from music critics after it was released. However, it debuted at number one on Billboard 200 in the United States, moving more than 172,000 units, and also debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and Canadian Albums Chart. Since then it has been certified gold in the United States, Britain, Mexico, and Brazil. Three official singles have been released from the album: "I Bet My Life", "Gold" and "Shots". Until July 2017 this album has sold over 1,000,000 copies in the US.

Video Smoke + Mirrors

​​â € <â €

In 2012, Imagine Dragons released their debut studio album Night of Influence. The album, produced by the band along with Alexander Grant and Brandon Darner, launched the band into a major international commercial success, charting in the top ten of 14 national charts, in addition to charting the other eight. Certified Platinum by seven national music associations, including 2x Platinum in the United States by RIAA and 3x Platinum in Canada by Music Canada, the album initially met with first week sales of over 83,000 copies, the highest chart for rock debut debut since 2006. The album also nominated for the Juno Award 2014 for this year's International Album.

The band released six singles during the Night Visions album cycles in 2012 and 2013, five of which were mapped on Billboard Hot 100. Radioactive, single 2013, sold more. of the nine million singles in the United States, spending more than 1 year in a row on the Billboard Hot 100. Peaked at no. 3 on the charts, it also broke the record for the longest run into the top five and is the best selling rock single on Nielsen SoundScan running the list of best selling rock songs in digital history. Billboard listed the band as one of "2012's Brightest New Stars" and then "The Breakout Band of 2013."

To further promote the successful Night of Visions, the band embarked on a one-year concert tour beginning in early 2013 and ending in mid-2014, dubbed the "Night Visions Tour." The tour lasted for more than 170 days, and visited North America, South America, Europe, and Oceania. An additional tour of North America, dubbed "Into the Night Tour," was also executed. The conclusion of Into the Night Tour marks the end of the Night Visions album cycles, with Night Visions Live, a live album, serving as the last release in the cycle. Vocalist Dan Reynolds joked about the end of the Night Visions cycle, saying that "We always write down the street, [so] the second album will come, unless we die at the age of 27 next year. there will be a second album, I do not know when it will happen, but it will probably come. "The band is also very inspired by their experience on the Night Visions Tour. And Reynolds told the New Orleans-based The Times-Picayune newspaper that the world tour had "a lot of inspiration to withdraw," and further stated, "You realize that you are much smaller than you think. "

The idea behind the second studio album, dubbed as their "new year resolution", is to create music and finish it when the band feels that their work is done. Reynolds told MTV in 2014 that the band wanted to "make an album that they really love". He further said that "we tend to be perfectionists, too hard on ourselves at times, and we do not want to rush anything because we know how we are with things.We do not want to record until we really feel good about that, you know, and who knows how long it will take. "

Maps Smoke + Mirrors

Composition

Reynolds declared to Rolling Stone music magazine that the next album would be "different" from Night Visions, and that the band intended the album "stripped a bit." "He added that" we embraced many hip-hop influences with Night Visions, but I think the next record will be more driven by rock. Too early to say, but there are some strange things going on inside these songs. "

src: i.ytimg.com

Recording

The creative process for the album starts well before the conclusion of the Night Visions cycle. Since the start of the Night Visions Tour in 2012, the band has written new material for the upcoming album, and, even as early as the tour, has recorded a demo for the album, before entering the studio. By the time they enter the studio to work on the album, they have collected 50 demos to work on. The demo has been described by Reynolds as "definitely different," but added that "it's still Imagine the Dragons, but we have a lot of growth and maturity to do as a band." I think [new material] will hopefully be a step in the right direction We are just trying to make and do what comes out and what feels right. "The band was also critical of themselves throughout the session, with Drummer Daniel Platzman stating that" there is no room for external pressure "during the recording of the album.

The band announced a break at the end of the Night Visions Tour at Lollapalooza in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

src: i.ytimg.com

Promotions

The Smoke and Mirrors album cycle so far features three singles and two promotional singles. The regional release of this album features a different track list. Target has provided an exclusive deluxe version of the album featuring four bonus tracks, available online internationally.

Target is working with the band to air the first commercial show ever to live during the Grammy Awards. On February 8, 2015 the band performed "Shots" from Las Vegas' Freemont Street under the direction of Jonas ÃÆ'â € | kerlund. Billboard estimates a $ 8 million commercial cost in airtime.

Hard Rock Cafe teamed up with the band, giving them the first full access to control the internal Hard Rock Cafe internal video system (more than 20,000 screens in all 151 locations worldwide) on February 17, 2014. Also, the signed T-shirts will be hidden all over Hard Rock Cafe store that supports Tyler Robinson Foundation, which benefits families of children with cancer.

Starting the release of the lead single "I Bet My Life," Imagine Dragons posted in the social media segment of the artwork imposed by the lyrics of the song and the letters reflected that spell the title song in reverse.

On December 12, 2014, Imagine Dragons posted on social media a request that fans look around the Las Vegas Valley for hidden clues for upcoming songs. The band gave 13 fans of artwork puzzle pieces for this album. When combined, the pieces of the puzzle reveal the art of cover and album title. On December 15, 2014, "Gold" was released as a single with a video released later. On the cover art for the album is a series of numbers that provide special coordinates for prizes that are hidden in the Nevada desert, including signed guitars, drumsticks, Polaroid shots, and main tickets for free concert tickets for the entire tour.

On January 24, 2015, the band flew 200 fan award winners from around the world to attend a special listening event at the P3 Studio Art Gallery in Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The event included an art exhibition by Tim Cantor for the album and participants were allowed to listen to the full album through the Beats headphones. Then the band arrived for an interview and a private show.

February 20 to February 26, 2015, the band, partnered with Southwest Airlines, flew over 30 winners from all over the US from coast to coast on what they call the "Drag Komodo" Tour. The Destination Dragon tour consists of all the winners flown in from their hometowns, to small clubs in Los Angeles, Provo, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. The tour was a promotion for Smoke and Mirrors, and an opportunity for the band to test their live music, in preparation for the Smoke and Mirrors World Tour. They pay homage to the club where they started with small play, a private event for Dragons winners, as well as local winners in every city. They played The Troubadour in Los Angeles, Velor in Provo, Utah, Vinyl in Las Vegas, and completed a tour at West Terminal in Atlanta, Georgia. During Southwest flights from Las Vegas to Atlanta, fans were treated to an acoustic concert in what was called the "Live at 35" airline where artists played for airplane passengers after the plane reached 35,000 feet. All winners fly to all 4 cities, are given tickets to all 4 private events, can attend "Live at 35" events, and are given welcome and greetings.

Singles

"Bet Bet My Life" was released as the lead single from Smoke and Mirrors and debuted at number 15 on the Canadian Hot 100, number 27 on the UK Singles Chart, and 28 on Billboard Hot 100. It also occupied the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs, the first for the band. The band performed the song live at the American Music Awards (2014), Good Morning America (2015), The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2015) , VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live (2015).

"Gold" was released as the second single of Smoke and Mirrors on December 16, 2014 and reached number 12 on the Hot Rock Songs Billboard chart.

"Shots" was released as the third single of Smoke and Mirrors and mapped on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as reaching No. 1. 3 on the Norwegian Singles chart. The band performed the song live during the Grammy Awards (2015), the first commercial performance ever directed by Jonas ÃÆ'â € | kerlund. They also performed the song live on Good Morning America (2015), The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2015), The Howard Stern Show ( 2015), Jimmy Kimmel Live! , The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2015), and Today (2015).

Tour

On February 5, 2015, the band played live streaming concerts for Live Nation and Yahoo! where they announced a tour of the North American tour arena. The band embarked on a world tour, Smoke and Mirrors Tour, to promote the Smoke and Mirrors release worldwide. The tour starts on April 12, 2015 and ends on February 5, 2016.

src: images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com

Critical reception

The album overall received mixed reviews from critics with a score of 60/100 on Metacritic. Q published a positive review of the album, calling it "[a] modern pop-rock gem" and also recorded it as an improvement on their debut album Night of the Night. Entertainment Weekly published a positive review stating, "the group's second-class effort returned to electronic frippery, revealing the highly focused rock giants they were on stage." Illinois Entertainer published an interview with Reynolds on February 2, 2015, saying that the album was "an ambitious, rock-hard effort, with abundant potential hits." The Daily Telegraph published a very positive review of the album, calling it "Guntur" and say "his songs are peppered with brilliant ideas and bizarre collisions, world music sounds seep through R & amp; B, stuttering digital stutter disturbs solid rhythm. Lyrics and submission suggest Imagine Dragons adhere to the ideals of the ancient rock bands, but nothing is allowed to block the glittering hook. "

Allison Stewart of The Washington Post wrote that the band "is very good at what it does, even if what it does is not that great," after "easily achieving" an album goal, "to cram as much as possible popular style into a mainstream rock album to attract as many people as possible. "Dave DiMartino from Yahoo! Music writes that "it is a band music, not their face, or personality, that resonates with a mass audience." And this is great... It's a solid rock album, surprisingly diverse in sound - not a screech-tuneless fest by any means - and recordings of the band should be proud of... It can be a mess, and that's okay. "Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described the album as an" overblown "rock arena, with more style than substance, and an excessive emphasis on echo effects such as" reverb almost functioned as the fifth instrument in the band ".

The album's lyrics are nominated for AML Award.

src: weknowthedj.com

Commercial performance

The Smoke Mirrors debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart with 195,000 units equivalent to the album (172,000 of which were pure album sales). This is more than double the previous group's best selling week. The album remains in the top position of the twenties for the next few weeks, in July 2017, the album has sold over 1,000,000 copies in the United States. In the United Kingdom, this became the last album to reach number one on sales alone because the stream became incorporated into the UK Album Ladder the following week.

src: images.genius.com

Track list

All songs are written and produced by Imagine Dragons (Ben McKee, Daniel Platzman, Dan Reynolds and Wayne Sermon), unless they are mentioned.

All bonus tracks on disc are separate on physical version.

src: resources.wimpmusic.com

Personnel

Imagine the Dragon

• And Reynolds - main vocals, percussion, piano, keyboard, songwriting, production
• Wayne Sermon - guitar, songwriting, production
• Ben McKee - bass guitar, keyboard, synthesizer, horn, songwriting, production
• Daniel Platzman - drums, percussion, violin, songwriting, production

src: c1.staticflickr.com

Diagram

src: images.genius.com

Certification and sales

src: images.musicstore.de

Releasing history

src: highlandernews.org

See also

• List Billboard 200 albums number one in 2015
• Album list 2015 in Canada
• List of UK Albums The 2010 figures chart

src: cont-1.p-cdn.us

References

src: images.genius.com

External links

• Smoke Mirror (Asian Tour Edition) on YouTube (streaming copy where licensed)
• The official site of Imagine Dragons

Source of the article : Wikipedia