Why “The Lumineers” Name Their Songs After Women (and What It Means)

The Lumineers are a famous “folk-rock” band that has released plenty of radio-famous titles — Ophelia, Cleopatra, and, most recently, Gloria, to name a few. Not all of their songs are named after women, but a good chunk of them are. It’s always made me wonder why their songs are named in such a particular way — what people are they singing about, and why? Although there’s not much information out there about their songs, I hope to shed some light on what’s really going on with the inspiration for naming their most popular singles.

A quick run-down:

Ophelia — named after Ophelia from Hamlet. The song is meant to describe the feeling of falling in love with/being obsessed with fame.
Angela — about a girl struggling to escape her past, named after the lead singer’s (Wesley Schultz’s) ex-girlfriend.
Gloria — one in a 10 part series about a girl struggling with alcoholism and her family members (the Sparks family), inspired by a relative of one of the band members.
Cleopatra — although most people believe that the song is about Cleopatra herself, it’s actually about a female taxi driver that Schultz met during a trip to the Republic of Georgia.
Donna — part 3 of the Gloria series, Donna is believed to be about Gloria’s mother and the neglect Gloria suffered during her childhood.