U2 gave fans the first listen to music from their new album Carnaval de Luz during a special iHeartRadio and TikTok LIVE event on Wednesday (November 11) ahead of the album’s release on Friday. Throughout the exclusive interview with Stryker at the LA Theater, the band also shared behind-the-scenes details about the record.

U2 has been around for 50 years, providing the soundtrack to some of the biggest moments in many fans’ lives throughout the decades, from each new record they release to bringing thousands of people together at music festivals.

“It’s church for a lot of people,” Bono said. “People go there and they commune with music and each other. People go out and spend those close times, stay up too late, get in a bit of trouble sometimes… We’re there for all of this. That’s what this record is here for — to be a record for whatever mood you’re in.”

As for the “secret sauce” to their longevity, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. said, “We have discovered the country to our own self-belief — that each of us brings out the best of the other, and on our own, we wouldn’t be able to make this kind of music.”

Fans tuning in got to hear some snippets from the album, including “Silencio,” “La Reina,” “Can’t Stop Us Now,” “If the World Is at War We Better Not Be,” “Torn (featuring Dolly Parton)” and “The Mirror Maker (Rosalía),” a track inspired by the “astonishing Spanish artist” Rosalía.

Another track listeners got to hear was the album opener “Go (Carnival de Luz),” which bassist Adam Clayton said helps set the tone for all the songs that would follow.

“We always like to start a record by disorientating what the listener is gonna feel when they first put the record on,” he said, “so this is in that tradition of subverting everything you think you know about U2.”

The Edge added that the track is also a statement of intent for the rest of the record, noting, “Whatever you were expecting from this album, it’s not that. That’s important to us.”

Bono also shared the lyric, found in the song “Superficiality,” that they hope can best explain the new album: “You and me are breaking news because the news can’t break us. That don’t make us superficial, serious is what that makes us.” What makes the lyric stand out is how it reinforces how important it is to remain joyful despite others trying to break you down. As Bono explained, there are people out in the world who cannot “steal our joy” and it’s “a powerful thing to not be bullied by the circumstance around us.”

The band also gave fans tuning in the first look at their upcoming The Greatest Show on Earth World Tour, which kicks off in February 2027, sharing sketches and renderings of the expansive set and how arenas will be transformed into the backstage of a carnival, complete with a massive red curtain lining the width of the stage.

Carnaval de Luz drops November 13.

Jeff Stevens