2016–2018: Evolve
On September 27, 2016, Imagine Dragons began teasing their third studio album with a tweet simply saying "studio". The band continued posting cryptic messages on their Twitter account for the next four months. On January 28, 2017, the band started posting a series of videos teasing the album's first single. The time-lapse videos featured lead singer Dan Reynolds drawing surreal images on a drawing pad. Morse code was hidden in the videos and translated to "objects of same color".
On February 1, 2017, Imagine Dragons released "Believer" as the lead single for their next album. "Believer" was used as part of the Super Bowl ad for the Nintendo Switch. Imagine Dragons were part of the Wayhome summer 2017 lineup in Oro-Medonte, Ontario. On April 27, 2017, Imagine Dragons released "Thunder" as the second single from their third album. On May 8, 2017, Imagine Dragons announced their third studio album Evolve, as well as a new track "Whatever It Takes", which was released on the same day. A tour in support for the album was also announced within the same day. The tour was held across 33 countries from September 2017 through September 2018.
Evolve was released on June 23, 2017, worldwide. The album reached the top five in most countries but was met with mixed critical reception. The band performed in NOS Alive, Portugal on July 8. "Whatever It Takes" was released as an official single off the album a few months later on October 6, 2017. The song won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video in 2018. On February 14, 2018, Imagine Dragons announced a new single titled "Next to Me" on Twitter. The song was released as part of a re-issue of Evolve on February 21, 2018.
On June 12, 2018, Imagine Dragons announced a new single in collaboration with Kygo titled "Born to Be Yours" on Twitter. The song was released on June 15, 2018.