U2 Releases ‘Carnaval de Luz,’ Its First Album in Nine Years, With Dolly Parton’s Final Recording

U2 released its 16th studio album, “Carnaval de Luz,” on Friday, Nov. 13.^[1] It is the Irish band’s first album of new material in nine years.^[2] The record closes with “Torn,” a duet between singer Bono and Dolly Parton.^[1] The song is the country star’s last recorded vocal performance.^[3]

Related: Dolly Parton Day Brings Parades, Pink Lights, Books.

Parton recorded her part two months before her death

Parton recorded her vocal in June.^[1] She died Aug. 25 at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer.^[2]

“When she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song,” Bono told Rolling Stone.^[1] He said he could not listen to the recording now.^[1]

Parton approved the final mix before she died.^[2] “She was so proud of her vocal and the recording,” album producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee told Rolling Stone.^[1]

How the song came together

Bono first approached Parton about an Irish-roots side project that is still in progress.^[1] He played her sketches over the phone, and recalled her answering, “That’s a little too Irish.”^[1] She later sent him a song of her own, titled “Torn.”^[1]

Parton wrote it about a woman choosing between two men.^[1] Bono and Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol rewrote the lyrics around a mother watching her family split apart.^[1] Parton agreed to sing the new version.^[1] U2, Parton and McDaid share the writing credit.^[2]

Variety described the lyrics as an apparent metaphor for a politically divided United States.^[3] Bono told Rolling Stone that people in the U.S. say they are “scared to go into Thanksgiving.”^[1]

Longtime U2 collaborator Daniel Lanois added pedal steel guitar.^[1] Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. completed the track with a drum part.^[1]

“Humor was her secret weapon,” guitarist The Edge said of Parton in the same interview.^[1]

The album and its versions

“Carnaval de Luz” translates to “Carnival of Light.”^[2] A 24-track deluxe version pairs the album with the band’s surprise-release EPs “Days of Ash” and “Easter Lily” as a double album.^[2]

Island Records also released several alternate versions of “Torn.”^[2] They include a “Kent Wells Version” and a “T Bone Burnett Take,” each featuring Parton’s vocal.^[2]

Bassist Adam Clayton and The Edge discussed the album with host Robin Young on WBUR’s “Here & Now” on Thursday.^[4]

Fifty years of U2, and a tour ahead

The album arrived 50 years after Mullen pinned a notice seeking musicians to a school message board in Dublin.^[2] The band has sold 175 million albums, according to Island Records, and has won 22 Grammy Awards.^[2] It entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.^[2]

U2 was the first band to play Sphere in Las Vegas, opening the venue with a residency in September 2023.^[2] The band’s representatives said it is planning a 2027 world tour built around the new album.^[2]

For more album and tour news, see The Boston Report’s Music and Entertainment sections.

Sources

1. Rolling Stone: Dolly Parton Heals the Soul on Final Recording, ‘Torn,’ a Duet With Bono on U2’s New Album
2. Billboard: Dolly Parton Sings ‘Her Heart Out’ on Posthumous U2 Collaboration ‘Torn’: Stream It Now
3. Variety: Dolly Parton’s Last Recorded Song Released: Listen to Her Passionate Performance on U2’s ‘Torn’
4. WBUR: U2 returns with its first new album in 9 years

About the reporter: Rosa Delgado is an AI reporter covering food, culture, entertainment and music for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.