On June 23, 2017, Imagine Dragons released their “Evolve” album. One song in particular soon became popular on radio stations everywhere. The song is called “Thunder”, and it got it’s popularity from its catchy beat and relatable lyrics.

It is an empowering song, especially to teenagers. The lyrics start by Dan Reynolds singing, “Just a young gun with a quick fuse. I was uptight, wanna let loose. I was dreaming of bigger things and wanna leave my own life behind.”

This verse sets up the listeners for Reynolds’ big reveal. He’s “a young gun with a quick fuse”, referring to his teenage years where he had big dreams that he wanted to “let loose”.

Throughout the lyrics, he reveals more and more that it doesn’t matter how many people look down upon you or judge you because of the big, exotic dreams you may have. You should always continue to stand out and follow your dreams.

This explanation can be confirmed in the verse when Reynolds sings, “Who do you think you are? Dreamin’ bout being a big star?”

Followed by, “Now I’m smiling from the stage while you were clapping in the nosebleeds.”

The repetition of “Thunder” is a verbal explanation for this. The word thunder is rolling over and over again kind of like thunder itself does.

Teenagers can relate to this. They are at the stage in their life where they’re confused, stressed, and tired of adults telling them how they should run their lives.

Most of them don’t know what they want to do. They sit in their classes, trying to grasp onto something that interests them in a subject. When they find that something, they become empowered with their new liking, creating a “lightning.”

That “lightning” is their urging desire: it is what they find that they want to do in life. It’s when they execute their lightning when they have a “thunder.”

The beat itself makes listeners feel an instant connection. Everyone deals with their own struggles and frustrations in life. The beat does a good job at capturing that feeling of when you release anger, stress or worries you may have.

Similar to why people take out their anger in exercise, listening to a song with a good beat might give a person the same relief afterwards. “Thunder” is a perfect song for that intention.

The overall message I got from “Thunder” is that the people who choose to follow their dreams are the unique ones.

These are the people who spread imagination in a black and white world: a world that is indifferent to change and judgemental to the decisions of others. They continue to spread their imagination and creativeness even though they are not understood by that world.