Bono explains why U2 wrote a song about Rosalía

Bono has told Rolling Stone why U2 put “The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)” on their new album “Carnaval de Luz”, according to Stereogum. The record, the follow-up to 2017’s “Songs Of Experience”, is due on 13 November via Island.

The singer said the band usually writes about people in jail or dead heroes, and this time wanted to celebrate an artist simply for being extraordinary. Of Rosalía’s last-year album “Lux”, he said she reached the same point just before U2. He also named Patti Smith as an artist who goes through the mirror rather than staying lost in it.

Bono said he reached out to Rosalía through mutual friend Penélope Cruz. By his account she was encouraging, and the two have exchanged texts but not met. Producer Jacknife Lee said the track opens with Bono impersonating her soprano, and that the album version is the 196th attempt. The interview also says U2 are rehearsing for a stadium tour.