The first two albums from start to finish were a masterpiece that made it difficult to skip any of the tracks. So they are no strangers to creating electronic pop hits but helping Imagine Dragons with a third studio album to follow the massive success of “Night Visions” and “Smoke + Mirrors” was no easy task. He’s one of my favorite artists currently and one of the most relevant artists alive right now.The album was produced and Co-written by the Swedish song writing duo, Mattman and Robin, who have worked and written with artists such as, Selena Gomez (“Hands to Myself”), Hailee Steinfeld (“Love Myself”), Ellie Goulding (“Love Me Like You Do”), Nick Jonas (“Close”) and DNCE (“Cake By The Ocean” & “Kissing Stangers”). Current artist I’d always love to collaborate with Kendrick again. Reynolds: My dream collaboration would be Harry Nilsson since he’s my favorite artist and he’s passed on, but he’s influenced me more than probably any other artist. What I care is they know that dad believed in equality and that their dad believed in human rights, that is the lesson I want to leave with them.īaltin: Who would be your dream Billboard Awards collaborator? The gravity and the weight I feel it every day, especially as I have, like I said, five-week old twins, when I pass on, whether or not they know I believed in God or anything like that, that, to me, I’m not concerned as much about. As far as it goes for artists and musicians and actors and people in the spotlight, from all spectrums, the far right, the far left, when it comes to shedding a light on these things I think that it’s so important. I’m working with GLAAD and with the Trevor Project and they were telling me how it’s so important that people who come from conservative backgrounds, who come from the far right, step forward and become allies. Reynolds: I think it’s more important than ever. Reynolds: Bowie represents, to me, a person who just symbolized accepting your identity and accepting everyone’s else identity for whoever they are and whatever they choose to identify as.īaltin: Does your success make it more important you speak out for the disenfranchised since music is so often a way for people to feel they are not alone? The music I love, but the reason those are some of my favorite bands is I felt like behind the music there was a human being who had thoughts in his head and emotions and feelings about politics and feelings about culture and I think that solidified these bands as more than just music to me.īaltin: Who are some of the artists that stand out for you as messengers of social change? And I think that is what remained with me the most even when it comes to those bands. Bono and the role that he’s played, the voice that he’s had, I think inspired me growing up. Reynolds: I grew up on the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and those were two very politically driven bands, even U2. So each festival is different, but it can be a pretty good hang sometimes with the other artists.īaltin: Talk about your evolution as a political songwriter. You see the same people every day, it’s generally the same show and if you’re not careful it can be a little monotonous, but these festivals we do and when we get to meet other bands, like you said, like-minded people, we’re not alone in this, there are other people that are trying to achieve the same goals we are. Sermon: When you do an arena show it’s like the traveling circus.
Sermon: That is true, it’s the music for him, he’s very old school.īaltin: How does it inspire you musically to be around people like that? When we got in the room with Kendrick, also just as a human being he’s a wonderful humble person that’s just there for the music. Reynolds: Yeah, he resurrects that ‘90s hip hop that I love and grew up on. Sermon: Yeah, it felt like he’s the natural continuation of Tupac and Biggie, he’s that level. Sermon: It’s like a delicious steak with all this fat on it, that’s the best part of the steak.īaltin: When you performed at the Grammys with Kendrick.in 2014 could you feel he was ready to go to the next level? But when we reproduce it live that fat lives, that’s where it thrives. In fact Wayne sat down with a couple of the songs and added parts and outros and intros and solos, just things that lend better to the live purposes cause when you’re putting something on a record you’re trimming the fat. Reynolds: When we’re playing the song live we typically play it differently from how it’s on the record. Reynolds: But yeah, that is when a song comes to life, totally, when you have an audience.īaltin: How did the songs change in rehearsal? Daniel Wayne Sermon: We rehearsed it for the first time yesterday and so we’re so smart the first time we play a new song it’s gonna be broadcast on You Tube and it’s like, “What are we thinking?”