Roots

Album: Single release only (2015)
Charted: 77
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Songfacts®:

  • This stand-alone single was written on the road by Imagine Dragons during their Smoke + Mirrors Tour. It finds Dan Reynolds singing about the dichotomy of the band's lives as musicians. "It's a song about embracing the culture you were raised in, embracing the things that make you who you are," Reynolds told Radio.com. "It's real easy, especially when you're traveling around the world, to kinda get lost, and what keeps me grounded is my family and my roots."

    Dedicated by the group to the support they've received from their huge fanbase, it was released on digital retailers on August 27, 2015.
  • Imagine Dragons experimented with different sounds on Smoke + Mirrors, and this song featuring a distorted drum beat over a prominent piano riff continues this trend of experimentation.
  • To promote the single, Imagine Dragons shared a collage on social media featuring childhood pictures of the band members as well as fan submitted photographs.
  • Imagine Dragons performed the song for the first time on September 2, 2015 during their Melbourne, Australia show.
  • The song's music video reflects the ups and downs of life on the road. The clip starts with Imagine Dragons wrapping up a live performance, before we see Dan Reynolds fall into a feverous dream. "We wanted to show the honest truth of it, there are plenty of nights that are amazing, times that we're overjoyed," said the singer, "but there's also nights when you go home to the hotel room for three months in a row and I miss my three-year-old daughter who's back home in the states."

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