MercyMe Talks About How Their New Album Came About

By Blessing Harper Mar 26, 2021 06:41 PM EDT

MercyMe will be releasing their brand new album inhale (exhale) on April 30, and it is available across all DSPs for preorder today. The new album will feature noteable guests, such as Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox and disco legend Gloria Gaynor. In anticipation, MercyMe is also releasing a new instant grat track and lyric video for "On Our Way," featuring Bart Millard's son Sam Wesley.

The album has been preceded by previously released tracks, such as "Almost Home," "Say I Won't," and "Hurry Up & Wait."

Bart Millard takes the time to talk about how the album came about. The making of the record took over two years to make. "It was two years and one month to the day that we started writing for this new record until we finally finished," Millard says. "'Almost Home,' which is the first single, will be out a year and a half before the record releases. We would have had it done a year or so ago, but when the pandemic hit, it slowed everything down. We practically re-wrote the album two or three different times."

Millard goes on to talk about the album's title and how that came about. "One reason we're calling the album inhale (exhale) is we all just want to sit back for a second and take a deep breath and be like, 'Okay this is what matters. This is what matters, I'm grateful that messages like that seem to resonate with people on a consistent basis because there is hope in that, and if they can still get fired up about what's to come then not all is lost."

The band began writing and wound up with more than 40 songs. Millard admits having the new record to focus on offered a welcome sense of purpose during pandemic life, and the opportunity to inhale (exhale). "It's been a life saver working on this record during the pandemic when you can't do shows and everything else. I love being with my family but I think my wife is like, 'Yeah you function better when there is an outside purpose going along with this.' I agree," he says with a laugh.

Despite the devestating effects of the pandemic, there is still a silver lining for Millard. "The pandemic-as awful as it's been-has been amazing for our family, just getting to spend so much time together. It's been such a scary place, but at the same time, it's been great to have this much time with family, to push pause and not have a deadline. Everything has stopped. That's a crazy feeling and after a few weeks or a month of me freaking out like, 'What's going to happen?' I realized that we're all freaking out together. Music has been put on hold and so once I realized that, I kind of let go and started enjoying the fact that some days my most important decision was what flavor of ice cream I'm getting with my youngest daughter."

inhale (exhale) Track Listing:
1- Inhale

2 - Blessed

3 - On Our way (feat. Sam Wesley)

4 - So Yesterday

5 - A Little Love (feat. Gary LeVox)

6 - Whiplash

7 - Bright Side Of Broken

8 - Let Yourself Be Loved

9 - Hurry Up and Wait

10 - Brand New (feat. Gloria Gaynor)

11 - Uh Oh (Here I Go)

12 - The Moment

13 - Then Christ Came (Demo)

14 - Say I Won't

15 - Almost Home

16 - Exhale