Ben Platt
“Imagine”
WIMITLA. SONG REVIEW
By Alix Sholomon and Elie Weitzman
“Imagine” Cover Art / Click to Listen!
As avid Ben Platt fans, we were met with extreme excitement at the release of his latest single “Imagine.” Unfortunately, it did not live up to its expectations, falling flat relative to the rest of his discography. Since the release of Sing to Me Instead back in 2019, Platt’s music has been a staple for long car rides, study sessions, and for times when you just need to cry. For Alix, his work means so much: from Dear Evan Hansen to his solo career, there wasn’t a week that passed this semester where she didn’t listen to “Ease My Mind” and “Hurt Me Once” on the streets of Ann Arbor. However, the same cannot be said for “Imagine,” which felt like an attempt at delving into the genre of frivolous pop music. With a generic and unexciting melody, manufactured instrumental, and overpowering beat, all that makes Platt such a talented artist felt like it was put aside.
Platt comes from a background in musical theatre, and with that, there is a certain expectation from his fans: vocal prowess. We, as an audience, do not listen to artists like T-Pain for the richness in their voices, just as we don’t listen to Ben Platt for his incredible rhyme scheme or beat. It seems that “Imagine” was an attempt at stepping out of the box for Platt as an artist, maybe an experimental piece, or perhaps his life has just taken a turn for the better in his relationship with Noah Galvin and he no longer has the same need to write heartbreaking ballads. We’d like to say that this sounds like a song that would appear on the Zootopia soundtrack, but that would be an insult to the masterpiece that is Zootopia. So, we’re going to assign it to the Trolls franchise instead. This doesn’t even seem like a bad song for Ben Platt — this is just a bad song in general. The cover art and times when Platt’s voice is truly showcased make for a nice contribution to the song, but other than that we really don’t have much nice to say, which is especially hard for longtime fans. 3/10