Once upon a time, U2 tried to make dance music. After successfully reinventing themselves as ironic aesthetes on Achtung Baby and Zooropa, U2 steered all the way into the late-'90s electronica hype wave on their 1997 album Pop, and the result was not what they wanted. U2 quickly abandoned that aesthetic path, leaning into classic sounds and elder-statesman status on later records. So it's interesting to hear U2 teaming up with the Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix now — not just after the electronica thing became a distant memory, but also after the boom of festival-ready EDM that Garrix represents became old news.
Anyway, that's what's happening. U2 are suddenly back to putting out a whole lot of music. Earlier this year, the legendary band released two surprise EPs, Days Of Ash and Easter Lily. Garrix produced the Easter Lily track "Scars." Back in 2021, Garrix also worked with Bono and the Edge on "We Are The People," the theme song for the UEFA European Football Championship. Earlier this month, U2 dropped "Street Of Dreams," another new single, and the Edge appeared onstage during Garrix's set at the Tomorrowland festival to debut their new collab "Fireflies." It's not an Owl City cover.
"Fireflies" isn't quite U2's attempt at "A Sky Full Of Stars." It's more of a mood-piece than a desperate anthem, and the festival-EDM touches are a little subtler than you might expect. Honestly, I might prefer a little desperation. Here, it almost sounds like U2 are actively seeking out new ways to concoct overproduced music. The Auto-Tune on Bono's voice is especially egregious, and the familiar chime of the Edge's guitar just underlines how much formulaic music has been built on his sound's blueprint. Hear it for yourself below.
"Fireflies" is out now on Darkroom.
