A heartbreaking song of love and despair by one who has lost all hope in humanity... or almost.

Imagine Dragons is an American alternative rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. The video depicts images of Imagine Dragons performing the song at a hometown show in Las Vegas mixed with scenes of audience members thinking about their own personal demons, including a victim of parental abuse, a military veteran, and an anorexic man who stares at himself in a mirror.

Director Isaac Halasima added a snippet at the clip's conclusion showing the band dedicating their hit "It's Time" to cancer victim Tyler Robinson, a great fan of the band, 17-year-old, who died from the illness. They also started a charity named The Tyler Robinson Foundation, helping young people battling cancer.

When the days are cold
And the cards all fold
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold

When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood's run stale

I want to hide the truth
I want to shelter you
But with the beast inside
There's nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide

When the curtains call
Is the last of all
When the lights fade out
All the sinners crawl

So they dug your grave
And the masquerade will come calling out
At the mess you've made

Don't want to let you down
But I am hell bound
Though this is all for you
Don't want to hide the truth

No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide

They say it's what you make
I say it's up to fate
It's woven in my soul
I need to let you go

Your eyes, they shine so bright
I want to save their light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide

-------------------------------------------

... isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger but then I'll admit
I'm just the same as I was
Now don't you understand?
I'm never changing who I am

It's time to begin, isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger but then I'll admit
I'm just the same as I was
Now don't you understand?
I'm never changing who I am

Tyler, Tyler, Tyler, Tyler...

THE CARDS (are) ALL FOLD= In a card game, to fold the cards is to stop playing because you can't win.

SAINTS= Very good people.

FAIL= If something fails, it doesn't have a good result, it goes wrong.

HAIL= If you hail somebody you cheer them, you admire and applaud them because they are famous, important and maybe rich and powerful.

BLOOD= /blʌd/ The red liquid that runs inside your body.

STALE= Not fresh, without vigour and vitality, lifeless. In a bad condition.

SHELTER= Protect.

BEAST= Monster.

NO MATTER WHAT...= Anything that...
- No matter what I do, she's always angry = Everything I do makes her angry.

BREED= Create, produce.

GREED= An excessive desire to have more than you need.

MY KINGDOM COME= An expression taken from the most important Christian prayer, The Lord's Prayer. In the prayer we see "Thy kingdom come" (= may your kingdom come). It refers to the Kingdom of heaven (things under God's rule, a world of justice, peace and love). So when we say "Thy kingdom come" we are hoping the world will be a better place (it's our hope and our aim for the future). In the song, when he says "this is my kingdom come" he's making a contrast between that wonderful world Christians hope, and the cruel world he has inside and outside, so for him, there is no hope for a better world.
Note: In the original prayer, "Thy kingdom come", COME is an old subjunctive form expressing a wish (modern English = may it come, I wish it may come), but in "This is my kingdom come", COME is a past participle, so he says that his kingdom has arrived; it's not a hopeful good world for the future, it is a cruel bad world for today, already here.

MY HEAT= (figurative) My love, my passion.

MY DEMONS= /maɪ di:mənz/ (figurative) A demon is an evil habit, obsession or passion that torments you. "Demond" literally means "devil", an evil spirit that pushes you to do bad things and who will torment you after you die for your sins.

CLOSE= Near.

CURTAINS CALL= At the theatre, the curtain call is when the play finishes, the curtain falls and then all the actors come out to receive the public's applause. So when "the curtains call", that is the end of the show.

FADE OUT= Slowly disappear.

SINNERS= People who are bad, who do bad things.

CRAWL= /krɔ:l/ To walk in your hands and feet (like an animal). Here he's talking about people going out, but he makes them move like animals because that's what they are, evil beasts.

DUG= (dig-dug-dug) To dig is to excavate, to make a hole in the ground.

GRAVE= Tomb, the place where you are buried when you die.

MASQUERADE= A fake show, a situation which is not what it looks like. (the literal meaning of "masquerade" is a fancy dress party where people wear masks, so you don't know who they really are)

CALLING OUT= Announcing, shouting in a loud voice, making public.

MESS= A mess is a problem you have created, a bad situation.

LET YOU DOWN= To let somebody down is to disappoint them.

HELL BOUND= If you are "hell bound" you will go to hell because you are a bad person. (HELL is the "place" bad people go after they die)
The expression "place + bound" expresses direction, but with the idea that it is your destiny to go there sooner or later:
- I'm home bound = I know I will go home (that's my destination)
- She's New York bound = She is sure to go to New York, that's her destination and her destiny

THOUGH= Although; but.

UP TO FATE= "Fate" means "destiny". If something is "up to fate", it means that the decision is not yours, it is your destiny's decision; you can't choose because it's all written.
- It's up to you = You must decide

WOVEN= (weave-wove-woven) To weave is to make cloth by interlacing the threads. Figuratively, something "woven" is made of different things combined in a way that it is impossible or very difficult to separate.

SOUL= Spirit, your real self, your inmortal part.

The singer is warning a woman he loves not to get too close to him, since he is "dark inside". He knows his imperfections very well and knows he can hurt her, so he wants to protect her by not letting her get close to him.

I want to hide the truth
I want to shelter you
But with the beast inside
There's nowhere we can hide

The song is pessimistic about human nature, or at least about today’s society, it’s all full of despair. He loves her but he feels that his demons (the bad things in his nature that torment him) turned him evil and there’s nothing he can do. But still, he reserves some little hope for the end.

When the days are cold = When we have difficult times

And the cards all fold = And everyone has given up

And the saints we see / Are all made of gold = There is nobody left who is really good (the only saints are statues, not people)

When your dreams all fail = Life is getting hard and there’s no hope

And the ones we hail / Are the worst of all = The people who are famous and influential today are bad people.

And the blood's run stale = Nobody has any passion anymore, we’re like zombies.

I want to hide the truth / I want to shelter you = I want to protect you from this cruel world.

But with the beast inside / There's nowhere we can hide = But evil is also inside me already (and also inside you?), so there’s nothing I can do to protect you.

No matter what we breed / We still are made of greed = We are evil, so no matter how we try to do good things, we just can’t anymore.

This is my kingdom come = This is my reality, there’s nothing more to expect or to hope, I can’t change that.

When you feel my heat / Look into my eyes / It's where my demons hide = When you feel I’m warm and loving pay attention, because inside me I hide my dark evil side, deep inside I’m a dangerous person.

Don't get too close / It's dark inside / It's where my demons hide = Don’t try to love me or get too attached, because deep inside I’m evil.

When the curtain's call / Is the last of all = At the end of everything

When the lights fade out / All the sinners crawl = You must know that nobody is good

So they dug your grave = People know you can’t resist and you will fall too, so they are getting ready to fall on you, criticize you and hurt you when you do

And the masquerade will come calling out / At the mess you made = And then you’ll see that everybody is just pretending to be what they are not, and they will criticize you when you make a mistake.

Don't want to let you down / But I am hell bound = I know you trust me and I don’t want to hurt you but I will, because I’m also evil

Though this is all for you / Don't want to hide the truth = I’m telling you all this for your own good, so you must know I’m also a bad person like everybody else.

They say it's what you make / I say it's up to fate = People say you can choose your destiny, you can be good or bad, but I say it’s all written, we can’t choose.

It's woven in my soul / I need to let you go = I was born evil and I can’t change that, so I must tell you to leave me because I don’t want to hurt you

Your eyes, they shine so bright / I want to save their light = You’re still good and innocent

I can't escape this now / Unless you show me how = I can’t change my evil nature, but I want to, so maybe if you help me I could change and there would be hope for us.


So at least at the end of the video, through all the despair and hopelessness, there is a ray of hope. She’s good and innocent so maybe she could help him change and become a better person after all. Then, they could be safely together.