"I'm just having so much fun writing and not necessarily having to think about where it's going to go," the Edge says of U2's current activities.
Olaf Heine*U2 may be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Achtung Baby this month, but their focus is on the future as they continue to work on a follow-up to 2017’s Songs of Experience. Just minutes before the Edge hopped on Zoom with Rolling Stone last week to talk about some of the band’s lesser-known Achtung Baby–era tracks, he was working with bassist Adam Clayton on a new song idea.
“We are firmly locked in the tower of song and working away on a bunch of new things,” the guitarist says, noting that they’re still in the very early stages of the process. “I’m just having so much fun writing and not necessarily having to think about where it’s going to go. It’s more more about enjoying the experience of writing and having no expectations or limitations on the process.”
At this stage, the band has yet to settle on any producers. “I so enjoyed working with [Dutch DJ] Martin Garrix [on the UEFA Euro 2020 song ‘We Are the People’] and I hope to work with him in the future. But we haven’t made any firm decisions on what the next thing will be in terms of personnel. I just don’t know.”
The only new song U2 have shared with the public in the past three years is “Your Song Saved My Life” from the soundtrack to the animated film Sing 2 where Bono provides the voice of lion rock star Clay Calloway. “That’s not a thing that U2 normally does,” Edge says, “but it’s in the of spirit of mixing it up, keeping people guessing, and trying different things. It felt like a worthy thing. And also, it’s a movie about great songs and we we felt very comfortable in the company that we were keeping there.”
They’ve been off the road since the encore leg of their Joshua Tree 30th-anniversary tour wrapped up in December 2019. They aren’t ready to announce any plans for their next tour, but they’ve spoken in the past about the possibility of bringing Zoo TV back on the road for its 30th anniversary. The Edge is tight-lipped on their exact plans, but he says he remains very open to that idea.
“I would love that and I couldn’t rule it out,” he says. “I think [Zoo TV] is such a current thought. Back then we were we’re dealing with the overload and kind of the whiplash of 24/7 news cycles, which hadn’t been known before. It was the overload of cable TV and hundreds and hundreds of channels. And little did we know that that was just the beginning of this avalanche of channels to kind of draw your attention.
“And so, yeah, I think Zoo TV could absolutely come back and be just as relevant,” he continues. “But we haven’t actually got to the point of doing anything more than this kind of talk, but I wouldn’t rule it out again. The [production] team [from that tour] are still with us. That’s what’s fun about it.”
For now, the Edge is just enjoying his downtime and the process of creating new songs. “I think everybody felt they needed some time at the end of the last tour,” he says. “It really had been five years of being away. If we weren’t in the studio, we were on the road. And as much as momentum is your friend, there’s a moment where you stop getting fed by momentum and it starts to drain you. That’s because you need those moments of inactivity just to listen to music. We’re all enjoying that right now.”
NEWS
Doechii may be getting a lot of flack from haters these days, but it surely feels less significant amid a lot more love, development, and pressure from everyone else. One aspect of her skyrocketing career that many listeners are curious about is how she will "fit in" with other femcees, which is a bit of a dismissive notion boxing all female rappers into the same box. Nevertheless, at least the Tampa native has another superstar in her corner. During a recent livestream with fans, Megan Thee Stallion revealed that a collaboration with her is one of the things she wants to manifest the most for her next project.
"I see Doechii, b***h, I love Doechii," Megan Thee Stallion remarked of the ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL creative. "I do want to do a song with Doechii. That is on my album wishlist. But I really have no song right now. "I feel like Doechii is the kind of person that you’d have to be in the studio to make a song with. I would like to hear a beat that she would like to rap over. Also, challenging myself to rap over beats I would not normally rap over, without losing myself."
Given that they have skill sets and interests in common – plus their track record of other female collabs – these two might spark magic in the studio together. This joins other developments that bode well for Meg's next album. Plies, for example, recently, dropped his copyright lawsuit against Megan Thee Stallion over her "Wanna Be" collab with GloRilla and Cardi B that sampled Soulja Boy. Hopefully that experience prevents more sample clearance misunderstandings in the future.
Meanwhile, Doechii will definitely drop a new album later in 2025, which will be her studio debut. Her previous mixtape won Best Rap Album at the Grammys this year, so who knows what a big debut will yield? It's also a good opportunity for Megan Thee Stallion to hop on, although this hypothetical collab would likely feel welcome on either femcee's records. In any case, we're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that any link-up lives up to its potential.
