The Lumineers are a Colorado based folk-rock band who started performing together in the early 2000’s. They released their first single ‘Ho Hey’ in 2011, which went on to create extreme international buzz. They released their first album titled ‘The Lumineers’ on 3rd April, 2012. On December 5th, they were nominated for two Grammy Awards. Their success was sudden and universal, sweeping the world with their upbeat tunes, perfectly curated lyrics and inspired storylines.
The creators of the band, Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Frates, also famously composed the music for ‘The Hanging Tree‘ from the well-known Hunger Games series! The Lumineers have proved to be lyrical geniuses, putting in genuine thought and emotion to tell their stories as well as others. They’ve put particular focus on writing many of their hit songs about women. They confirmed this theory when they released their album called ‘The Leading Ladies’. This article will talk about who these women are and what they represent. We will look at Ophelia, Cleopatra, Angela and Gloria!
Ophelia
‘Ophelia’ was the lead single of The Lumineers’ second album titled ‘Cleopatra’ and was released on 5th February 2016. The song, as Shultz confirmed in one of his interviews, has been written about the bands sudden encounter with fame. Taking inspiration from Ophelia, a character from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet‘, The Lumineers have given their song a whole new layer.
“Oh, Ophelia
You’ve been on my mind girl since the flood
Oh, Ophelia
Heaven help the fool who falls in love”
Ophelia represents the tragedy in the song. Her story has been widely known as one of the saddest plotlines written by Shakespeare. She is driven mad as her lover kills her father and then proceeds to reject her. The heartbreak and pain caused by betrayal and the fickle nature of romantic love is what leads her to her death. She slips and falls into a brook and drowns. This overwhelming feeling is deeply concealed in the song and it shows how fame changes people and sometimes makes them go mad.
Cleopatra
‘Cleopatra’ is the name of The Lumineers’ sophomore album and it is also the name of a song in the same album. It was released on 25th March 2015. According to Wesley Schultz, this song was written about the true story of a female taxi driver, named Manana, who got proposed to when she was younger by her boyfriend. Her father had just died and she didn’t give her boyfriend an answer, who then left the village heart-broken and never came back. She loved him and refused to wash his footprints off the floor when he left.
“I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress
When you knelt by my mattress, and asked for my hand
But I was sad you asked it, as I laid in a black dress
With my father in a casket, I had no plans”
Referring to her as Cleopatra really gives the listener as insight into her persona. Shultz describes Manana as a bad-ass lady who will pick you up from the airport with a cigarette hanging from her mouth and a beer can between her legs. He describes her as a pragmatic woman, who was also the first female taxi driver in Georgia. Manana, like Cleopatra, seems to fall under the archetype of ‘femme fatale’. They are self-assured, strong-willed and independent realists!
Angela
‘Cleopatra’ chronologically talks about three women: Ophelia, Cleopatra and Angela. Each song telling a story more tragic than the last. ‘Angela’ is the last of this trilogy. In the music video there is a motel called ‘The Three Ladies’, which confirms the analogy that these stories are intertwined. Angela seems to have been named after Wesley Schultz’s ex-girlfriend, Angela Henard, who has been bought up in multiple songs.
“Strangers in this town
They raise you up just to cut you down
Oh Angela it’s a long time coming in
Oh Angela spent your whole life running away”
Angela turns out to be more bitter-sweet than tragic, giving the listener the illusion of closure. The song talks about this girl who is unable to confront her past and is constantly trying to run away from the realities of her life. She seems to come to a point of acceptance and understanding. She embraces her youth and her actions and instead of running away she chooses to come home. It’s a song about maturity and coming back to the one you love or for the one you love.
Gloria
Gloria is the third song from The Lumineers’ third album titled ‘III’. It was released on 4th April 2019. The song talks about a woman who struggles with addiction. Schultz revealed in an Instagram post that the song was about his mother-in-law and her experience with addiction. The song talks about the hurt and suffering people go through when someone they love has problems with addiction. The song asks questions stemmed from frustration that drug addled minds can’t answer.
“Gloria, you crawled up on your cross
Gloria, you made us sit and watch
Gloria, no one said enough is enough”
Schultz tries to shed the secrecy surrounding addiction by sharing his personal experience. He talks about how his mother-in-law had to be admitted to the ER 96 different times in one year alone. He mentions all the struggles him and his wife had to go through to get her the help she deserves.
Leading Ladies
Songs tend to hold more meaning when they tell stories because stories connect us to each other. These women are all real people who we can find in strangers, close friends, relatives and even ourselves. Every person lives their own truth, even if their truth is a tragedy. The Lumineers’ leading ladies prove to be strong women who inspire their music and the people who listen to it.
