Why MercyMe rewrote their most recent album during the pandemic
It’s easy to see why MercyMe’s song “Hurry Up and Wait” became a fan favorite.
The contemporary Christian band known for more than a few iconic hits (think “I Can Only Imagine”), struck a nerve with “Hurry Up” by channeling some of the angst and frustration that many people have felt during the COVID pandemic. Like always, the popular group kept their message spiritually focused and grounded in God’s word.
Bart Millard, MercyMe’s frontman, said the video for the song was fittingly made in the band’s cabin studio. It seemed to perfectly capture the “cabin fever” of the pandemic shutdown and the ways people tried to stave off a certain sense of isolation that they felt.
The Grammy Award-winning band plans to bring its Gospel-centered message to Oklahoma City as part of its “inhale (exhale)” concert tour. The group will perform in concert at 7 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Paycom Center in downtown Oklahoma City, with contemporary Christian recording artist Micah Tyler as special guest.
Millard recently discussed the band’s current tour, response to the album “inhale (exhale)” and how he has continued to move forward during the global pandemic. The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: How was the band able to write the latest album “inhale (exhale)” during the height of the pandemic?
A: It’s obviously been a strange season for everybody. It took us about two
years to make this album and it usually takes us a few months. In fact, our first single “Almost Home” was released in fall 2019, and normally an album would follow a month or two later. We waited a year and a half before our album came out. So during that time when COVID hit, we just kept writing songs. It was weird to have an album complete before COVID and not look at what we were writing during that season, so the album changed completely, the album title changed. I’ve been doing this long enough so I would say albums are like timestamps in our lives, so I will always remember it because of when it was made through COVID. That’s kind of why we called it ‘inhale (exhale)’ because right now I feel like all we can do is breathe.
Q: How have people responded to the album’s music?
A: It’s been really awesome. In spring 2020, we had canceled our tour and were coming back home. Every artist that had canceled started posting these gut-wrenching performances on YouTube and social media. I was seeing 10 or 20 a day and everyone was saying we’re all in this together, and everyone was more emotional than the last. I said man, I don’t think I can cry anymore. So in the studio, that’s kind of why we starting writing again. We thought maybe we should start reminding people that there is a joy somewhere in this, knowing that we’re not in control. When we released the album, the response was overwhelming. Normally, you release an album and you’re touring already and you can get immediate feedback. But when you finish an album and you sit at home for another half a year, it feels like, you start trying to find out what people are thinking and the response has been awesome. The tour has been a long time coming.
Q: “Hurry Up and Wait” really seemed to resonate with fans because it was one of the hit songs of the summer. When I saw the video for the song, with you running around singing in a house by yourself, marking the days of quarantine, I thought you must have been in my own living room! I knew other people probably felt the same way. Why do you think that particular track resonated with people?
A: That was the exact time in spring, we realized we just need people to laugh and be able to dance. We had just finished recording the song, knowing the album wasn’t going to come out anytime soon. We begged the label, can we just get it out there in iTunes, Spotify, whatever, just to justify making that video. We have a cabin that we made into a studio and I kept saying I don’t know how many days I stayed in my pajamas and we started joking about it. I said we should make a video of me just going crazy by myself. Me and our camera guy that we’ve known forever, the two of us were just winging it. We were blown away by how it turned out and it was so much fun to make.
Q: What is the premise of the single “Say I Won’t” which has also captured the attention of so many fans?
A: “Say I Won’t” was written during a time when Gary Miracle, our first merch (band merchandise) guy 20 something years ago who is part of the family, got really sick on New Year’s Eve 2019. He had an infection in his blood and went into a coma. His body started shutting down and they eventually had to take (amputate) his arms and his legs. Because of COVID, we had to watch from a distance and it was so hard. I already had the idea for “Say I Won’t” but the original idea was more of when you realize your identity in Christ and what you possess inside, that’s when you really start living. That’s where it started with the song but by the end, just watching Gary’s journey of being an overcomer, I said these two are connected. When we knew that was going to be the first single, the studio wanted to be able to tell someone’s story, something powerful because we knew we couldn’t tour. I called Gary and asked him what I thought and he was just in tears. He said ‘Man, we’ve been praying every day just to show us purpose in all this.’ It’s been awesome, the attention it’s brought. He would say he had a ministry dumped on his lap through all this, meeting so many people in the service, who’ve lost limbs, or people going through mental health issues and depression. It’s amazing to walk that journey with him.
Q: What about the song “Almost Home” which seems to have multiple meanings? It could seem to imply that people can draw comfort from the idea that the health crisis will be over at some point.
A: “Almost Home” was written long before the pandemic. There was already a sense of division before the pandemic. We were already in a tough spot, I felt. It did come from a time where I felt if there was ever a time to rally the troops, if you will, and to say there has to be something bigger in control, there has to be hope. If we don’t have hope, we’re in trouble. So that’s where I got the idea. I remember being a kid going on trips and I would ask are we there yet. When we were going to Disney, I would do it with excitement and when we would come home, I asked if it was out of desperation — I just wanted to be in my bed. That’s the idea: Don’t give up yet, the finish line is there. We’re almost there. So yes, it definitely still applies to the pandemic, but I had no idea when we wrote it.