In July 2018, upon the completion of recording the band's seventh studio album
Evolution,
frontman David Draiman polled fans as to whether they preferred the first single to be a heavy rock song, more akin to most of their back catalogue, or a more mellow ballad song, more comparable to their cover of
Simon & Garfunkel's "
The Sound of Silence". As a result, "Are You Ready" was released as the first single from the album on August 16, 2018. A
music video was released on the same date. Guitarist
Dan Donegan noted that the song's origins trace back to 2004, as a musical idea he had written during the sessions for their
Ten Thousand Fists album. He stated that he never finished the track in 2004, and it was pushed aside due to the band focusing on further-developed material instead, and was placed into the band's archives until 2018, when he presented it to Draiman, who instantly gravitated towards writing
scat vocals for it. ==Themes and composition==