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
Gold (Imagine Dragons song) remix of the song was featured on the soundtrack of the video game, "NBA 2K17". According to the sheet music published at musicnotes.com, the song is written in the key of A minor, with a moderate tempo. Along with "Hopeless Opus" and "I'm So Sorry" on "Smoke + Mirrors", the song touches upon lead-singer Dan Reynolds' depression struggles. Dan Reynolds told "Billboard" that "Gold" was one of the last songs to be recorded for "Smoke + Mirrors": "I came home from tour with my head spinning and decided to run away for a bit to the west coast and reflect/write