U2 reveals new album with Dolly Parton's final vocal duet

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAYThu, September 24, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC

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Fifty years ago this week, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posted a handwritten note on a school bulletin board seeking "musicians to form band.”

Five decades later, that band – U2 – is still flourishing.

On Nov. 13, U2 will unveil “Carnaval De Luz,” their 16th studio release and first full album of new material in nine years.

The 12 songs, which include collaborations with Rosalía (“The Mirror Maker”) and Dolly Parton, whose duet with Bono turned out to be her final vocal recording (“Torn”), were bridged by the two surprise EPs the band dropped this year.

“Days of Ash” – released at the start of Lent in February - and “Easter Lily” – which arrived in April - followed the liturgical calendar; “Carnaval De Luz” fits in as the predecessor to Lenten denial, the “celebration of the flesh,” the band explained in a release announcing the album.

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New U2 album features last Dolly Parton recording

Less weighty is the new single, “Silencio,” released Sept. 24. The brisk song, which clocks in at two minutes and 35 seconds, is a glorious windup of The Edge thrashing with abandon on guitar and Bono dropping his characteristic whispers and bellows throughout, all cemented by the rhythmic heartbeat of Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton.

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"Silencio" follows the vibrant "Street of Dreams," released in July.

The album was “recorded all over the place,” U2 says, and produced by frequent collaborator Jacknife Lee with assists from Brian Eno, Martin Garrix, Daniel Lanois and Ryan Tedder.

Lanois plays pedal steel guitar on “Torn” which U2 wrote with Parton and Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol) and is described as “a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances.”

U2 will also be honored Feb. 7 in Los Angeles as the 2027 MusiCares Persons of the Year.

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Here is the track listing for "Carnaval De Luz":

"Go (Carnaval De Luz)"

"La Reina"

"Street Of Dreams"

"The Mirror Maker" (Rosalía)

"Superficiality"

"If The World Is At War We Better Not Be"

"Silencio"

"The Greatest Show On Earth"

"Glorify"

"Midnight Sunshine"

"Can’t Stop Us Now"

"Torn" (Feat. Dolly Parton)

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