Hip Hop Ho Hey: How rap influenced The Lumineers’ new album, “III”

ABC/Randy HolmesThe Lumineers' newly announced forthcoming album III is separated into three chapters, each one focusing on one person in the fictitious Sparks family, whose story spans three generations. That unique structure was partly inspired by what frontman Wesley Schultz saw happening in the world of hip hop.

Speaking to Billboard, Schultz says he started noticing rap artists who "were breaking the mold" when it came to releasing music.

"You'd have someone like Childish Gambino put out a song or video that didn't even have a home. It was kind of like an orphan of a song. There was no EP attached to it," Schultz explains. "Basically, that showed us...you can have people hear your music and you can have success without, you know, saying 'let's put out a normal album.'"

"Seeing things like that, seeing people kind of break the quote-unquote rules," he continues. "It seems like a really good time to be an artist. You still need good ideas. You need good songs, but we can get really creative with how we roll things out."

Rap wasn't the only thing that influenced III: While working on the album, drummer Jeremiah Fraites was reading the Harry Potter books. Fraites felt that mega-popular fantasy series' increasingly dark tone mirrored The Lumineers' transition from "a seemingly light place" to something more complicated.

Meanwhile, the closing song on III, "Salt and the Sea," was originally written for the new M. Night Shyamalan movie Glass, but the Sixth Sense director ended up not using the track.

III, featuring the lead single "Gloria," is due out September 13. It's the follow-up to 2016's Cleopatra.

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