Everyone has a story, as Imagine Dragons” new video for “Demons” shows, and the tales often come with very sad endings.
The clip, which starts as a standard concert video, albeit one bathed in beautiful blue light, features the “Radioactive”-band performing the heavy mid-tempo track about the demons we all have living inside us before a hometown audience in Las Vegas.
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One by one, it spotlights someone in the audience and takes them outside of the concert hall into their real life. The story zooms in on that person”s own demon, whether it”s the woman who has just lost a loved one, the young man battling from anorexia (or some disease that has left his body decimated), the son bullied by his father, or the soldier struggling from PTSD. No one goes into any situation without his or her own baggage, and it”s very possible, given the deep connection that Imagine Dragons has with its fans, that the scenarios played out here come from true stories the band has heard..
We know for sure the footage at the end is real and it is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. The video abruptly ends, and then it goes into footage of 17-year old Tyler Robinson singing Imagine Dragon”s first hit “It”s Time” in concert with lead singer Dan Reynolds at a concert. Reynolds hands the mic over to Robinson briefly, but that”s not the part that will make you grab the tissues, it”s the part where Reynolds moves his hand from Robinson”s shoulder to the back of his hairless head, and pulls him closer so they are almost touching foreheads in a touching, intimate moment. Reynolds retreats to the stage, but Robinson continues rocking out as those around him start changing “Tyler, Tyler, Tyler.”
It”s heartbreaking that Tyler died of cancer at 17, but the footage is also comforting and a true reminder of the power of music to reach us in those broken places when nothing else can.
The video also encourages people to donate to the Tyler Robinson Foundation, which provides financial assistance to families with children fighting cancer.