U2 Announce New Album ‘Carnaval de Luz’ Featuring Dolly Parton’s Final Recording

Sep 26, 2026

U2 have announced Carnaval de Luz, their first album of new material in nine years. The Irish band’s 16th studio album arrives on November 13 via Interscope Records (the label’s announcement lists November 12), and it closes with “Torn,” the final vocal performance ever recorded by Dolly Parton, who died on August 25 at the age of 80.

Alongside the announcement, U2 shared the new single “Silencio,” a track Variety described as a two-minute, 35-second homage to cheeky early surf-punk. Its music video was shot in Mexico City and directed by the duo Cliqua, made up of Pasqual Gutiérrez and Raúl “RJ” Sánchez. Ryan Tedder contributed additional production to the song.

Dolly Parton’s Final Recording

“Torn” is a duet between Bono and Parton, co-written by the singer with Parton and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid. According to Bono, the collaboration began when he invited Parton to take part in an Irish folk project he was working on. She passed on the demos, calling them “too Irish,” but offered him one of her own songs, “Torn,” to rework. Bono and McDaid rewrote the lyrics to tell the story of a mother watching her family fall apart.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Bono recalled that Parton, already ill, got out of bed to sing the song, and said he can barely listen to it now because of how much heart she poured into the performance. The track was recorded in June and features pedal steel guitar from Daniel Lanois.

Old Friends and New Collaborators

Carnaval de Luz was produced by Garret “Jacknife” Lee, who has worked with U2 since 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The record also marks the return of Brian Eno, who co-wrote and played synthesizers on three tracks, including opener “Go (Carnaval de Luz).” Eno and Lanois previously produced The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. DJ Martin Garrix is credited as a co-writer on “Glorify.”

The first single, “Street of Dreams,” was released back in July, before the album had been officially announced. It has been a busy year for the band, who have already issued two EPs in 2026, Days of Ash in February and Easter Lily. Both are conceptually tied to the new album through the liturgical calendar, since Carnival comes before Lent and Easter. Together, the three releases add up to 24 new songs in a single calendar year.

Talking to Rolling Stone, Jacknife Lee said he had never seen a band or artist work so hard, with so much intensity and joy, adding that the band recorded more in this stretch than in any other period of their career and that the new material stands alongside their best work.

Bono of U2 — Bono (Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

Part of that energy, according to drummer Larry Mullen Jr., came from his return to the studio after a neck injury kept him away from the band. Mullen told Rolling Stone that the group hadn’t been together in a studio environment for a long time and that he had thought he would never play again, so there was renewed energy when they walked back in.

The announcement also arrives 50 years, almost to the week, after a 14-year-old Mullen pinned a note on the bulletin board at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin looking for musicians to form a band. That meeting gave birth to U2’s lineup, completed by guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and Bono.