U2 have decided to delay their upcoming album after the surprise victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, according to a new interview with The Edge.
The guitarist said the band plans to reconsider certain songs on the album in the wake of a Trump presidency.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, The Edge said U2 were placing the album's release on hold and taking some "breathing space" to consider what they wanted to say following Trump's ascension to the White House.
“We just went, ‘Hold on a second - we’ve got to give ourselves a moment to think about this record and about how it relates to what’s going on in the world’,” the guitarist said.
The 40-year-old group had been set to release its 14th studio album, Songs of Experience, which the Edge said was completed towards the end of last year.
He explained that most of it was written in early 2016 or earlier.
“Now, as I think you’d agree, the world is a different place,” he said.
The group has made its views on Trump known.
At the iHeartRadio Music Festival in September, Bono used lyrics from their song Desire to make pointed remarks about the then presidential nominee.
He also told a virtual Trump, “You’re fired”, at an October benefit concert.
Speaking to Charlie Rose in September, Bono said that Trump is "trying to hijack the idea of America".
The Edge described Trump’s win as if a “pendulum has suddenly just taken a huge swing in the other direction”.
New tour
The group is gearing up for a tour to celebrate the 30th-anniversary of its album The Joshua Tree.
The Edge said that things have somewhat come full circle since the album's release during the Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher era of transatlantic politics.
“It was a period when there was a lot of unrest,” he said. “It feels like we’re right back there in a way.”
The Edge also suggested that the group may write additional songs as they reconsider whether the album’s content is “really . . . what we wanted to say”.
Guardian service
