{"id":478034,"date":"2026-02-19T14:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478034\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:55:08","slug":"u2-surprises-fans-with-new-music-full-album-coming-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478034\/","title":{"rendered":"U2 surprises fans with new music; full album coming this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

A legendary rock band surprised fans with new music, promising more to come<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

U2 dropped \u201cDays of Ash\u201d on Wednesday, a.k.a. Ash Wednesday, featuring five new songs including a collaboration with Ed Sheeran (\u201cYours Eternally\u201d). There\u2019s also a poem, \u201cWildpeace,\u201d that references recent events in Minneapolis, Iran and Palestine. <\/p>\n

In a statement, U2 said the six-track record is \u201can immediate response to current events and inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom.\u201d Four songs tell the story of a mother, father and teenage girl \u201cwhose lives were brutally cut short. A soldier who\u2019d rather be singing but is ready to die for the freedom of his country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bono also promised U2<\/a> would release a full-length album later in 2026. It would be the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group\u2019s first LP since \u201cSongs of Experience\u201d in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a thrill having the four of us back together in the studio over the last year \u2026 the songs on \u2018Days of Ash\u2019 are very different in mood and theme to the ones we\u2019re going to put on our album later in the year,” said Bono<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese EP tracks couldn\u2019t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. Songs of celebration will follow, we\u2019re working on those now … because for all the awfulness we see normalized daily on our small screens, there\u2019s nothing normal about these mad and maddening times, and we need to stand up to them before we can go back to having faith in the future. And each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

U2 guitarist The Edge added: \u201cWe believe in a world where borders are not erased by force. Where culture, language and memory are not silenced by fear. Where the dignity of a people is not negotiable. This belief isn\u2019t temporary. It isn\u2019t political fashion. It\u2019s the ground we stand on. And we stand there together.\u201d<\/p>\n

U2 is a Grammy-winning rock band from Ireland known for hit songs like \u201cWith or Without You,\u201d \u201cSunday Bloody Sunday,\u201d \u201cBeautiful Day,\u201d \u201cOne,\u201d \u201cI Still Haven\u2019t Found What I\u2019m Looking For,\u201d \u201cPride (In the Name of Love),\u201d \u201cDesire\u201d and \u201cAll I Want Is You.\u201d The group last released \u201cSongs of Experience\u201d in 2017, but have kept busy in recent years with reissues of albums like \u201cAll That You Can\u2019t Leave Behind\u201d and \u201cHow to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,\u201d plus 40 reimagined versions of iconic tracks on 2023\u2019s \u201cSongs of Surrender\u201d album.<\/p>\n

U2 also made headlines in 2023 and 2024 with an acclaimed residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Bono recently told Esquire that the new album could also mean a tour later this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of U2\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they\u2019re going to still be there for us,\u201d Bono told the magazine, referring to the band\u2019s fans. \u201cWe\u2019ve pushed them to their elastic limit over the years. And now it\u2019s a long time that we\u2019ve been away. But I still think that we can create a soundtrack for people who want to take on the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A legendary rock band surprised fans with new music, promising more to come this year. U2 dropped \u201cDays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[6234,88,216,6235],"class_list":["post-478034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-bestof","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-topix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}