''Mercury – Act 1'' is the first half of the fifth studio album by American

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band

Imagine Dragons Imagine Dragons are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of ...

, released on September 3, 2021, by Kidinakorner and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

in the United States. Imagine Dragons recorded the album in 2018 after their previous album, ''

Origins Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

''. It was later modified in early 2022 to include "

Enemy An enemy or a foe is an individual or a group that is considered as forcefully adverse or threatening. The concept of an enemy has been observed to be "basic for both individuals and communities". The term "enemy" serves the social function of d ...

", from the ''Arcane League of Legends'' soundtrack. The album was executive produced by

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

, who also executive produced its successor ''

Mercury – Acts 1 & 2 ''Mercury – Acts 1 & 2'' is the full fifth studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons, released through Kidinakorner and Interscope Records. It is a double album consisting of 32 tracks, with the first half, '' Mercury – Act 1'' ...

'', released on July 1, 2022, which ''Act 1'' was included as part of.

Background

Following the conclusion of their Evolve World Tour in 2018, Imagine Dragons' fourth studio album ''

'' was released that November. Unlike their previous albums, the band did not tour in promotion of ''Origins'', instead opting to take time off to decompress and spend time with family. The album was announced on June 30, 2021, revealing the cover art and release date. On September 2, 2021, the band performed in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

for a small group of people playing 5 songs, including the tracks "Easy Come Easy Go" "It's Ok" and "One Day". On November 19, 2021, the group released an

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...

-exclusive EP titled "Mercury - Act 1 (Amazon Music Live)", which included recordings of the 5 songs performed.

Concept

Frontman Dan Reynolds described the album as split into two sides: one organic and looking inward, the other more aggressive and looking outward. The album touches on themes of loss, loneliness, and grief, while celebrating life:

"I have watched my friends die to drug addiction. ..The point of art is to share our darkest moments as well as the light ones. I believe that by singing about my own struggle with it, it hopefully will bring someone else some sort of peace or resolve. This record deals with a lot of searching and loneliness, struggling with the finite state of reality. However, I really wanted it to end on a celebratory note. Setting the foundation for a more steady and stable future. I wanted to end the record by focusing on all the things that make me happy. The simple things that keep me going every day. Looking to the future. Pointing out to myself all the beauty that surrounds me."

The album's name is derived from the word “mercurial”, drawing on Reynolds’ mental health struggles and the band's lack of specific genre classification. The band enlisted

as the album's executive producer, whom Reynolds credited with pushing him to be less metaphorical lyrically and embrace the more “uncomfortable” aspects of songs:

"Rick reminded me that over the last decade my fans have grown up with me. They not only want to grow with me, but they expected it. He told me to never worry about pushing them in uncomfortable ways. And that I really would be doing them a disservice if I ever tried to re-create the past or sugarcoat the present. I owe them vulnerability and honesty only."

Critical reception

The album was met with mixed reviews. The more positive reviews praised the album's maturity, calling it the band's best album since their debut, ''

Night Visions ''Night Visions'' is the debut studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It was released on September 4, 2012, through Kidinakorner and Interscope Records. The album was primarily produced by the band themselves, as well as Engli ...

''. Other negative reviews criticized the band's attempts to mix too many genres. Neil Z. Yeung of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

stated "While the overall tone and narrative could use a little polishing, Mercury: Act 1 is a huge step forward in their maturation process". Conversely Evan Rytlewski of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', was hard-pressed to find signs of maturity and unimpressed by the band’s "genre hopping". He concluded that "despite the ostensibly humanizing presence of Rick Rubin, rock's patron saint of prestige, these quintessentially Vegas showmen still sound like they're firing their emotions out of a T-shirt cannon." El Hunt of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' gave the album two stars pointing out its lack of cohesion and originality. David Smyth of ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' called the album "more irritating than inspiring" and stated that "there are a few songs you might like here, but a few you'll violently hate."

Promotion

After the band's break in 2019 - 2020 on March 3, 2021, the band published a photo of them in a studio recording on official accounts. On March 5, the band published a video of cassette with a mystery melody. The next 3 days they published four videos with anagrams. When the fans solved the riddles,

confirmed that the double single " Follow You + Cutthroat" would be released on March 12, 2021. On March 23, the band performed for ''"''Follow You''"'' for the first time on ''The Late Show'', and later on ''

The Ellen Show ''The Ellen Show'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ellen DeGeneres that was broadcast during the 2001–02 season on CBS, airing from September 24, 2001, to January 11, 2002. It also starred Cloris Leachman, Martin M ...

'' on May 24, 2021. On June 29, the band published a snippet of the second single titled " Wrecked", which was later released on July 2. On June 30, the band announced the release of ''Mercury - Act 1''. On September 2, 2021, the band performed on

Live for a small group. On 19 November 2021, the group released an

-exclusive EP titled ''Mercury - Act 1 (Amazon Music Live)''. On September 7, the band performed "Wrecked" on ''Jimmy Kimmel Live''.

World tour

On 7 September 2021, after the release of ''Mercury - Act 1'', Imagine Dragons officially announced the Mercury Tour in 2022 to promote the album. The band had not toured for their previous album, ''Origins'', as they had decided to take a break. The tour began on February 6, 2022 in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and is scheduled to conclude on September 10, 2023 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Singles

The lead single for ''Mercury – Act 1'' was a double-A-side with the songs " Follow You" and " Cutthroat"; the songs were released on March 12, 2021. The music video for "Follow You" came out on March 16, 2021 and "Cutthroat"'s music video came out on May 5, 2021. The second single " Wrecked", which was inspired by the death of Reynolds' sister-in-law, was released on July 2, 2021 and the music video was released on July 15, 2021. The music video for "

Monday Monday is the day of the week that takes place between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week. Names The names of the day of the week were co ...

" was released on September 24, 2021. The song was the band's first to feature contributions from former drummer Andrew Tolman since their debut album ''

'' in 2012. "Lonely" was sent to Italian radio as a promotional single on the same day. "

" (with rapper

JID Destin Choice Route (born October 31, 1990), better known by his stage name JID (also stylized J.I.D), is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Atlanta, he signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records, an imprint of Interscop ...

) was released on October 28, 2021, and was featured on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

animated series ''

Arcane Arcane may refer to: Comics and literature * Anton Arcane, a DC Comics character * Arcane Jill Watson, a fictional character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' franchise * Arcane literature, fictional literature in the Cthulhu Mythos ...

''. The song became JID's first song to reach the top 5 in the US, and became the band's first song to reach the top 5 since the 2017 song "

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

". In 2023, for the 35th anniversary of

Alternative Airplay Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

where "Enemy" charted for 54 weeks, of which 9 were spent at the top spot''Billboard'' ranked the song as the 14th-most successful in the chart's history. An accompanying animated video was released alongside the song, and produced by

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on to develop ...

and Fortiche Production. It features the ''League of Legends'' character

Jinx A jinx (also jynx), in popular superstition and folklore, is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck. Examples of "jinxing" in the 21st-century press include the suggestion a ship might be "jinxed". The connection was made wi ...

in a story about "the parts of her childhood that led her to a life of crime" and several scenes of "the falling out between Jinx and her sister Vi".

Track listing

Personnel

''Some credits below were taken from the official photobook of the band in physical versions'' Imagine Dragons * Dan Reynolds – performing, production, composition, programming * Wayne Sermon – performance, production, composition, mixing ("Dull Knives"), programming * Ben McKee – performance, production, composition * Daniel Platzman – performance, production, composition Production *

– executive producer, production * Dylan Neustadter – engineering * Jason Lader – engineering *

Jesse Shatkin Jesse Samuel Shatkin (born 1979) is an American songwriter, producer and engineer. He has worked with Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Lopez, Fitz and the Tantrums, One Direction, and Miley Cyrus, among others. Shatkin was nominated in 2014 for G ...

– production, composition, engineering *

Joel Little Joel Little (born 13 February 1983) is a New Zealand record producer, musician and Grammy Award-winning songwriter.

– production, composition, engineering * Jonathan Pfarr – engineering * Matthew Sedivy – engineering * Mattman & Robin – production, composition, engineering * Micah Natera – engineering * Samuel Dent – engineering * Brandon Darner – production * Justin Tranter – composition * Andrew Tolman (Goldwiing) – production, composition * Kaelyn Behr ( Styalz Fuego) – production, composition * Mark Benedicto (New Haven) – production, composition * Jayson DeZuzio – production, composition * Aja Volkman – composition * Elley Duhé – composition * Fran Hall – composition * Jason Suwito – production, composition * Dylan Wiggins – production, composition * John Hanes – engineering *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including Blink-182, DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse ...

– mastering *

Serban Ghenea Serban Ghenea () is a Canadian audio engineer and mixer. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award a total of 45 times and has won 21 times. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Romania, and in 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. H ...

– mixing all song except "Dull Knives" *Matt Maitland - Big Active, London *Band Photography - Neil Krug

Commercial performance

''Mercury – Act 1'' debuted at No. 9 on ''Billboard'' 200 with 31,000 equivalent album units (17,000 pure), becoming their fifth top ten album in the US. The album also debuted within the top five across several ''Billboard'' charts:

Top Rock Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

(No. 2),

Alternative Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

(No. 2),

Top Album Sales The Top Album Sales is a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's top-selling albums in the United States. The chart has been published since December 13, 2014, although the magazine also retrospectively recognize ...

(No. 4) and Top Current Album Sales (No. 4).

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercury - Act 1 2021 albums Imagine Dragons albums Interscope Records albums Kidinakorner albums Albums produced by Joel Little Albums produced by Rick Rubin