They went into What About Now's cycle knowing that they owed the label two albums (which would usually indicate the band would do two tours) by the end of 2015. So if they had NOT released What About Now, how crammed together would those last two albums/tours have been? Doesn't it make sense to have spread them out hypothetically looking into the future assuming there wouldn't have been a break in the band lineup by releasing What About Now when it was released? Otherwise, the band would have been completely exhausted NOW because they would be on a tour supporting whatever album that quickly came out after a later-released-later-toured What About Now.