there’s a new video on the richyrocks youtube channel. toluca lyric #3 is now available! it’s an excellent opportunity to expand your vocabulary based on the lyrics of the imagine dragons‘ massive hit believer.
the beginning of the video connects the title of the song with the name of pop superstar justin bieber‘s most dedicated fans, beliebers. at :18 and again at :31 crap, meaning low quality or not good, is used to describe pop music. crap is a less offensive way of saying shit. it’s informal, but definitely not vulgar.
fun english practice 
richyrocks english on youtube
additionally, toluca lyric 3 associates believer with justin bieber via justin tranter who co-wrote both believer and bieber’s huge 2015 hit sorry.
first things first is a typical expression, but second things second, third things third and last things last, also used in the lyrics of believer are a variation and not common outside of the song.
in the toluca lyric video, first things first is ironically not the first topic. at 1:13 the second part is next and i shoulda said it first is a hypothetical idea in the past –> 3rd conditional. shoulda is a reduction of should have. it indicates that it was a mistake not to start the video analyzing the phrase first things first.
first things first isn’t first on this list either
at 1:15, in the phrase ima say, ima is also a reduction; it’s short for i’m going to.
the lyric i’m tired of the way that things have been and the observation that they (things) haven’t been that good are both present perfect. different from simple past, present perfect means that the action is still going on now.
broken, the irregular past participle of break, is used as an adjective in the first line of the prechorus of believer and at 1:26 in the video. broken heart is an image used often in popular music to represent very sad people, like the first line of this song from the pulp fiction soundtrack…
there’s a place where lovers go to cry their troubles away
and they call it lonesome town; where the broken hearts stay
at 1:30 in toluca lyric 3 u can watch 5 seconds of sulking, or visibly showing an angry or disappointed attitude.
good examples of sulk & get to. get it?
shook, mentioned at 1:40, is the irregular past tense of shake. it’s commonly used in popular music to refer to dancing. in this ac/dc classic it’s probably sexual 
stomachache, backache, earache and headache are all used to describe physical pain. heartache though, spoken at 1:45 as part of the lyric singing from heartache from the pain, is an emotional condition, like a broken heart. starting at :45 in dean martin‘s version of the christmas standard blue christmas, this verse is repeated twice…
i’ll have a blue christmas that’s certain
and when that blue heartache starts hurtin’
you’ll be doing all right with your christmas of white
but I’ll have a blue, blue christmas
blue means sad. hurtin’, a reduction of hurting, is feeling pain
speaking of pain (suffering, adversity), it’s the most important word in believer. as the toluca lyric 3 explains starting at 2:20, the video for believer features imagine dragons lead singer dan reynolds fighting dolph lundgren, the actor who played ivan drago in rocky iv. however rocky iii is the rocky movie famous for the line “pain”. rocky’s adversary (opponent) in rocky iii is clubber lang, played by mr. t,
the quotes (well-known lines) that rocky iv is famous for are i must break u and the “everybody can change” speech that rocky gives after beating (defeating, winning against) drago.
upcoming, used at 3:18 in the toluca lyric vid, means scheduled, coming soon.
listen for ’twas at 3:45. it’s a contraction of it was.
another lyric from the chorus of believer appears at 3:55 in toluca lyric 3
u break me down u build me up
break down means damage or destroy. build up means make stronger.
a coach’s job includes breaking down players and building them up.
all over the place means everywhere. u can hear it at 4:30 in reference to the popularity and ubiquity of believer.
at 4:35, the word worrisome(causing anguish) is the noun equivalent of the verb worry. it refers to the possibility that americans on the edge (under psychological pressure) might hear the lyric let the bullets fly, let them rain and feel like their pain justifies going on a shooting spree (mass shooting).
let the bullets fly is the english title of this successful 2010 movie
finally, in contrast to the final comment of toluca lyric 3, in reality, there are no moments in the vid when imagine dragons are confused with early 90s one-hit wonder the soup dragons. if you’re asking yourself who the fuck the soup dragons are, this rolling stones cover was their one hit.
are there any other words, phrases or structures in toluca lyric 3 or the lyrics of believer that are unclear? share them under leave a reply
