“Lonely” is the second track on Imagine Dragons’ 2021 album ‘Mercury – Act 1.’ The song is about anxiety, depression, and loneliness followed by the singer’s indulgence in drugs.
Imagine Dragons released their fifth studio album ‘Mercury – Act 1’ on September 3, 2021. The album contained two singles “Follow You” and “Cutthroat.” Imagine Dragons Tweeted about the inspiration behind this album; “We spent the last three years working on this record. Life has been incredibly hard for everyone around the world. We have all felt the loneliness. We’ve all felt the solidarity. We’ve all felt the fear. This album is meant to be a source of happiness.”
“Lonely” follows the first song on the album “My Life,” which, too, touched on the topic of the singer’s drug addiction and the difficulties of getting rid of these habits. In 2016, the lead singer, Dan Reynolds opened up about his mental health being affected by severe depression.
Listen to “Lonely” by Imagine Dragons
Buy ‘Mercury – Act 1’ album on Apple Music & Amazon
Imagine Dragons “Lonely” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
In the song, the band sings about the feeling of loneliness even surrounded by a crowd. Loneliness is not necessarily the absence of people around you, but rather the lack of people with whom you can connect with. Most celebrities do go through this condition.
Dan Reynolds sings about using the medication prescribed to him by doctors to help him fight anxiety and depression. It must be a frightening situation to have no control of your own mind and even the ‘help’ is not working as needed.
I’m startin’ to spin, needles and pins
Right on the brim, hand on a limb, takin’ it in
In the pre-chorus of the song, Dan Reynolds sings about his drug use as means to resolve his mental issues. Needles are used to injecting drugs into the bloodstream, which is said to be more potent and faster to act. It is more dangerous too. Dan Reynolds explains his experience with using drugs; “Tryin’ to breathe, startin’ to seize.” No, it does not sound fun!
However, unfortunately for the singer, it has been his life for so long. It is as if the same broken script keeps on repeating again and again. And every time the script repeats, he goes in deeper, and the climb out is not easy.
In the chorus, Dan Reynolds begs for some real company so that he does not have to rely on drugs to escape from the world of depression and anxiety.
Can you keep me company? (Help keep me company, I said, help)
L-O-N-E-L-Why am I so lonely?
No matter how big you are as a celebrity, these mental illnesses can cripple you and break you down. It is important to surround yourself with people who love you no matter where you end up in life.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.