"Bones" 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 ...

. The song 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 ...

on March 11, 2022, as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album, ''

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'' ...

''. It was written by

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 ...

Wayne Sermon Daniel Wayne Sermon (born June 15, 1984) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the lead guitarist for the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Early life Sermon was born on June 15, 1984, in American Fork, Utah, to parents ...

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 Daniel James Platzman (born September 28, 1986) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and composer. He is best known as the former drummer for the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Early life Platzman was born on September 28, 1986 ...

, and its producers

Mattman & Robin Mattias Per Larsson and Robin Lennart Fredriksson (known collectively as Mattman & Robin) are Swedish songwriters and record producers. They are published by Wolf Cousins, a publishing company administered by Warner Chappell Music. In 2016, they ...

Background and release

On March 9, 2022, the band posted to their social media, asking fans to head over to their official

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

server at 3:00PST for a surprise. The band's manager and frontman Dan Reynolds' brother, Mac, sent a

WAV Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced or ) is an audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on personal computers. The format was developed and published for the first time in 1991 ...

file containing the first 13 seconds of "Bones". The next day, the band announced on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

that the song would be released on March 11. The day afterward, the song was featured in the teaser for the third season of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

series, '' The Boys''. Upon the song's release, Reynolds stated to ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', "'Bones' is a reflection of my constant obsession with the finality and fragility of my bone. I'm always in search of some evidence that will convince me that there is more to come—that life is truly eternal in some sense. Having yet to find that, I try to at least dream of what conquering death would feel like in a song." The song plays on a loop in the main menu of the mobile game MLB Perfect Inning 24 with cover star

Corey Seager Corey Drew Seager (born April 27, 1994) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is often regarded as one of the best sh ...

, following "

Believer Believer(s) or The Believer(s) may refer to: Religion * Believer, a person who holds a particular belief ** Believer, a person who holds a particular religious belief *** Believers, Christians with a religious faith in the divine Christ *** Bel ...

" playing in the 2023 edition.

Composition

Musically, Emily Zemler of ''

'' described "Bones" as a "mid-tempo

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

-heavy track".

Music video

On April 6, 2022, the band released an official music video for the song, directed by Jason Koenig. The video draws influences from '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video. The video stars frontman Dan Reynolds as an egoistic

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

day trader Day trading is a form of speculation in securities in which a trader buys and sells a financial instrument within the same trading day. This means that that all positions are closed before the market closes for the trading day to avoid unmanag ...

, while the other band members star as coworkers. However, all the workers suddenly turn into dancing zombies, who chase Reynolds around the office. Reynolds is then hypnotized into joining the zombies' dance performance, before the spell breaks, he gets caught, and is decapitated.

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2022 singles 2022 songs Imagine Dragons songs Song recordings produced by Mattman & Robin Songs written by Dan Reynolds (musician) Songs written by Wayne Sermon Songs written by Ben McKee Songs written by Daniel Platzman Songs written by Mattias Larsson Songs written by Robin Fredriksson Kidinakorner singles Interscope Records singles