"Bad Liar" is a song 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 ...

. It was released through

Interscope 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 ...

and

Kidinakorner Kidinakorner (stylized as KIDinaKORNER) is an American record company founded in 2011 by British music producer and songwriter Alexander "Alex da Kid" Grant. The company houses a record label, music publishing, commercial production and a ma ...

records on November 6, 2018, as the fourth single from the band's fourth studio 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 ...

'' (2018). The song was written by

Ben McKee Benjamin Arthur McKee (born April 7, 1985) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the bassist for the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Early life McKee was raised in Forestville, California, and graduated from El Molino ...

, Daniel Platzman,

Dan Reynolds Daniel Coulter Reynolds (born July 14, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the lead vocalist and a founding member of the pop rock band Imagine Dragons, which formed in 2008. He is a recipient of the Songwriters Hall o ...

, and Wayne Sermon, along with Aja Volkman and Jorgen Odegard, with the latter handling production. "Bad Liar" peaked at number 56 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It topped the charts in Czech Republic and Latvia, and reached the top 10 in Belgium, Finland, Slovakia and Switzerland; as well as the top 20 in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore and Sweden. On May 31, 2019, a "stripped" version titled "Bad Liar – Stripped" was released.

Background

The song was co-written by

lead vocalist

and his wife Aja Volkman shortly before they separated. However, Reynolds has said the couple did not end up going through with the divorce. The Norwegian progressive rock band Maraton pointed out that the cover image for their single "Blood Music" is the same as Imagine Dragons’ cover image for "Bad Liar", with only the coloration being different. Maraton's single was released in February 2018, while Imagine Dragons’ song dropped nine months later in November 2018. Despite the undeniable shared artwork, Maraton released a statement revealing they had purchased the artwork from the artist Beeple, but had no deal giving them exclusive rights to the photo.

Critical reception

'' Idolator'' called the song a "brutally honest breakup anthem", and described it as "raw and stripped back". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' compared the song's lyrical heaviness to the band's track "

Demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

Music video

A music video for the song was released on January 24, 2019. It was directed by Ryan Reichenfeld and was filmed at Green Valley High School, in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with 317,610 residents. The city is part of the Las Vegas V ...

. The video features dancer Autumn Miller with choreography by Marissa Osato. As of February 2023, the music video has received 421 million views and 4.3 million likes.

Live performances

The song was first performed live at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was also performed at the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship halftime show.

Personnel

– lead vocals, keyboards * Wayne Sermon – guitar, backing vocals * Daniel Platzman – drums, viola, backing vocals *

– bass guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals *Jorgen Odegard – production

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs Imagine Dragons songs Songs written by Wayne Sermon Songs written by Dan Reynolds (musician) Songs written by Ben McKee Songs written by Daniel Platzman Songs containing the I–V-vi-IV progression Kidinakorner singles Interscope Records singles