Songfacts®:

• A "big shot" is a person of consequence or prominence – someone important. The phrase is a development of the 19th century "great gun" or "big bug." For The Lumineers duo of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites, their road to success has been a long and arduous one. During the 2000s, they lived the life of struggling musicians, taking whatever jobs they could to pay the rent. Their big break came in December 2011 when their song "Ho Hey" was used in the first season of CW's Hart of Dixie. Their long journey has kept them humble and stopped them from thinking of themselves "big shots."
• When The Lumineers performed "Big Shot" at Santa Barbara Brawl on September 22, 2021, Schultz dedicated it to their journey. "I think that, when I've been humble in my life, is because I had to work a couple jobs just to play music, to beg friends to come out to shows, to be off the road for 18 months," he said from the stage. "This song is about us trying to remain humble, trying no get too far ahead of yourself, cause the whole thing is fragile and you should be more grateful for nights like tonight."
• Their Santa Barbara concert was only The Lumineers' second American show since COVID put a stop to their playing live. The shutdown taught them not to get complacent, as anything can happen to anybody. "We are all big shots in our own story," said Schultz, "and, now, we've all been humbled over the last 18 months."
• Schultz and Fraites wrote the song themselves. Simone Felice, the producer of The Lumineers' second album, Cleopatra, and third, III, produced the track alongside David Baron, who covered mixing and engineering duties.
• Singer-guitarist Schultz and drummer Fraites performed most of the instrumentation, with Baron playing keyboards and Felice on the tambourine. Simone and James Felice sang backing vocals.
• The band's creative director, Nicholas Sutton Bell, directed the video along with his brother Dylan Marko Bell. Inspired by the '90s and the storytelling music videos The Lumineers grew up watching on MTV, it shows assorted customers all playing the big shot toward a harassed checkout guy.