Dan Reynolds (singer) announced that after just over seven years of being married, he and Volkman would divorce. However, on November 6, 2018, along with the release of the Imagine Dragons song "Bad Liar", Reynolds announced that he and Volkman were dating once again and that she helped co-write the song with him earlier in the year. Reynolds suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, which he announced at Leeds First Direct Arena in 2015 during the band's Smoke + Mirrors tour. In 2016 he partnered with Novartis's ThisASLife to raise awareness about the severe inflammatory disease. He has also suffered from ulcerative colitis since the
Imagine Dragons comes out and what feels right". Drummer Daniel Platzman added that the band are critical of themselves, with "no room for external pressure". Inspired greatly by the band's travels on both their previous tours and the Night Visions Tour, the album explored world culture as a musical item and overall motif in the album. Dan Reynolds told New Orleans-based newspaper "The Times-Picayune" that there was "a lot of inspiration to be drawn from [the world tour]. You kind of realize that you're a lot smaller than you think". In addition, Reynolds stated to music magazine "Rolling Stone" that the next