Music Notes

Monica, by ID

Number three in my "The Soundtrack of Your Life"  tracklist is Monica, an old demo which Imagine Dragons released from the vault about a week ago in celebration of the tenth anniversary of their sophomore album Smoke + Mirrors. I'm including it just for fun.

When I first listened to this song, I spent most of it trying to figure out why on earth Dan Reynolds fake deepened his voice to such an exaggerated extent. It was almost over when I realized he probably wanted to sound more like George Ezra, an artist who was trending at approximately the time this demo was created.

After the initial shock, I found myself laughing at the almost asinine yet deadpan goofiness of the lyrics: "popcorn candy - my favorite." It hearkens back to some of ID's earliest work such as Emma (2009), when Dan was unsure of himself as a songwriter and tended to write corny, mostly fictionalized songs about failed love, rather than being brave enough to really share his heart with us.

I can see why Monica never made it to the album, as it largely lacks the moody, medieval mystique which I love so much about S+M, instead dealing with a dud relationship in absurdly whimsical detail. It feels like a song Dan sat down and put together experimentally (indeed almost haphazardly) on his computer… which is exactly what a demo usually is, I suppose. I've actually watched him show us how he composes raw demos, but that's a story for another time.

An interesting observation I discovered on Reddit   points out the presence of "tritones"   in Monica, which I'd never heard of before. Having no knowledge of music theory, I'm not sure if I can identify them myself, but it's certainly something which adds depth to what could be considered a rather disposable song.

At any rate, this is a side of the Dragons we've not seen before, and as such it's quaint and amusing.

Words: 338.