The songwriting process for Shields was more collaborative than on past releases, with vocalist Ed Droste noting, "As we get older, more confident, and more mature, we're becoming more comfortable with stepping on each other's toes."[REF]
Lyrically, Ed Droste described Shields as Grizzly Bear's "most verbose album" yet, noting, "It's funny, because I think back to a song like "Colorado", where I was basically singing ten words over and over again for five minutes straight - and that's it.