RDK isn't pulling the fact of contractual obligations of albums out of his ass. We know for a fact that Burning Bridges was a contractual obligation to fulfill the contract with Universal. Therefore, by logical reasoning we know for a fact that What About Now was also a contractual obligation since they still owed the label one more album (BB) after it. There are timelines involved in those contracts as well. The band had a job to do and a timeline in which to do it.