“Whatever It Takes” – Single by Imagine Dragons from the album Evolve
B-side Thunder” (official remix)
Released October 6, 2017
Label Kidinakorner; Interscope
Songwriters Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, Daniel Platzman, Joel Little
Producer Joel Little
Charted No.1 in US, No.93 in UK, No.5 in Slovenia, No.3 in Poland, No.9 in Italy, No.26 in Canada.
This won for Best Rock Video at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
The song was produced by Joel Little, who is best known as Lorde’s key man on her debut album, Pure Heroine.
Guitarist Wayne Sermon told HMV.com this was the Evolve track that took the longest to get right.
A music video for the song was released on October 12, 2017. It was directed by Matt Eastin and Aaron Hymes. Eastin had also previously directed the music videos for Imagine Dragons’ songs “On Top of the World”, “Roots”, and “Believer”. The video begins with lead singer Dan Reynolds swimming through a room filled with water. You can see matchbooks reading “The Overlook Hotel” and “Mt. Qualo, Colorado, references to ‘The Shining’. It then cuts to a scene in which Reynolds and the band are playing in the same room; however, it is not filled with water in this scene. As they perform the chorus of the song, the roof crumbles and rain starts pouring in. Throughout the video, the rain persists and the room eventually fills completely with water. However, the band still plays. As Reynolds sings, objects such as boxing gloves and keys float by him along with two people who are seemingly sirens, tugging at him from both sides. Before the final chorus, the music stops and the band floats lifelessly on the water. When they break into song again, the stage has completely changed as the room is no longer underwater, but on fire as the band plays on it. As the video ends, everything is on fire and the music stops. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video award. On February 12, 2025, the video surpassed one billion views on YouTube.
Video directed by Matt Eastin and Aaron Hymes. Special thanks to the Bellagio Las Vegas and Cirque Du Soleil.
