"Victorious perfectly describes how the record makes me feel,” affirms lead singer John Cooper. “You wake up, face your own demons every day, and never give in. There’s an introspective side to it. We might’ve commented on the world explicitly on previous albums. This one is about looking inward. Perhaps, it’s because I’ve gotten a little older, and I’ve accepted struggle as part of the journey. When I listen to these songs, I want to fight for my life, I want to fight for who I am, and I want to fight for what I believe in."
Victorious is the 10th studio album for the Wisconsin-based quartet, which also includes drummer/vocalist Jen Ledger and guitarist Seth Morrison. "We got to really dig in and try anything we wanted to try, and that comes through in some of the intricacies of the production," says Cooper. (He and Korey co-produced six of the 12 tracks on Victorious together and co-produced two additional songs with Seth Mosley & Mike "X" O'Connor.) "It's quite a musical record. I think it's a little bit more musical than we've done in a long time."The band revealed the news through Billboard, who also premiered the band's new lyric video for the single "Legendary." The song, which some fans might recognize from their touring, is a very anthemic track for the band. "It's actually a little different for Skillet as well," singer John Cooper says. "That opening guitar riff isn't like anything we've ever done on guitar. It's a little bit bluesy, a little bit rock. I thought it was cool." The clip can be see at the bottom of this post.
"It's the first time that me and Korey [Cooper] produced most of the record ourselves," the vocalist added. "When I was looking at what we did well on Unleashed, I thought it was a real energizing and fun record to listen to. That's what a great Skillet record is -- songs that make people want to put their fists up in the air at a concert or get them through a run or drive or whatever they are doing. So we set out to make a record that had a lot of emotion to it."