Songfacts®:

• When Natalie Mering (aka Wyes Blood) finished her critically acclaimed 2019 Titanic Rising album, she had other ideas for what path to follow next. "My first impulse is always to destroy what I create. My first thought was, 'Oh, the next record's going to be an experimental noise album. I'm going to do my Mering Machine Music.'"
  
  However, her songs had other thoughts, coming to her in dreams or while sat at her piano late at night in March 2020 while the world was locking down. "I realized I had a few songs left over from Titanic Rising," she explained to Uncut magazine." As I kept writing, the songs were like the ones on Titanic Rising. That meant I had more to say on this front."
  
  Among the songs that came to her during this time was "Children Of The Empire."
• "Children Of The Empire" is a baroque-pop composition that serves as a rallying cry for the younger generation in America. With an urgent call to action, the song ignites a fire within, imploring them to grasp the fleeting chance to power a transformative wave before it slips beyond reach.
  
  Mering delves into the depths of avarice, exploitation, and their detrimental impacts on individuals and society at large. She explained to Uncut that the narrator in "Children Of The Empire" is "an American kid living in the death of an American dream."
• We're long gone
  In that eternal flame
  Trying to break away
  From the mess we made
  Oh, we don't have time anymore to be afraid
  
  The chorus harks back to the spirited moments of uninhibited freedom when Americans lived life to the full. It evokes a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era, a time when we believed our planet could endure any challenge, we hurled its way.
  
  But the lyrics also acknowledge a stark reality: Those cherished moments have slipped away, forever etching themselves in the annals of history. The acknowledgment that "those times are gone" reflects a bittersweet recognition of the changes and challenges we face in the present, imbuing the song with a poignant reflection on the passage of time and the need for adaptation.
• Mering wrote the song herself and co-produced it with Jonathan Rado. The non-singing member of the rock duo Foxygen, Rado co-produced The Killers' 2021 album Imploding The Mirage.
• Mering and Rado played the synthesizers on the track. The other musicians are:
  
  Dan Fornero: trumpet
  Blake Cooper: tuba
  Andy Martin: trombone, piano, backing vocals
  Ben Babbitt: backing vocals
  Mary Lattimore: harp
  Kenny Gilmore: bass
  Drew Erickson: organ
  Zach Dellinger: viola
  Andrew Bulbrook: violin
  Wynton Grant; violin
  Jacob Braun: cello
  Brian D'Addario: guitar
  Michael D'Addario: drums
  
  Andy Martin is an American jazz trombonist and Los Angeles studio player. He is a member of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band and has also played on the soundtracks of over 350 movies, including the trombone solo in the opening credits of Monsters, Inc, and the trombone solos in La La Land and The Secret Life of Pets.
  
  American classically trained harpist Mary Lattimore has collaborated with Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore, and Kesha.
  
  Drew Erickson is a behind-the-scenes musician who worked on Lana Del Rey's Blue Banisters and Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd albums.
  
  Brian and Michael D'Addario are brothers who are the lead singers, songwriters, and multi-instrumentalists of the American rock band The Lemon Twigs.