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New U2 album “Carnaval De Luz" will feature Dolly Parton’s last vocal performance

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FOX Local
Entertainment
Published September 27, 2026 4:26 PM EDT
Published September 27, 2026 4:26 PM EDT
article

The Edge and Bono perform with U2 during a surprise street performance at Bewley's Grafton Street, to celebrate their new music and their 50th Anniversary, on September 25, 2026 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for U2)

The Brief

    • U2’s 16th studio album, and its first full-length LP in nine years, "Carnaval De Luz," will drop on November 13.
    • The final track, "Torn," is a duet featuring Dolly Parton and is the country great’s last recorded vocal performance.
    • The band, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has already released two EPs in 2026, "Days of Ash" and "Easter."

A duet featuring late country superstar Dolly Parton will close out U2’s forthcoming record, "Carnaval De Luz," the first full-length album of new material from the Irish rock band in nearly nine years. 

Big picture view:

"Carnaval De Luz," which translates from Spanish and Portuguese to "Carnival of Light," is the group’s 16th LP and is set to come out on November 13, Interscope Records announced as the label dropped the second cut of the record, "Silencio." The new track follows the first single, "Street of Dreams," which was released in July.

What they're saying:

In a statement, the band’s guitarist The Edge described the album as "a messy, provocative, sacred collection of songs," while frontman Bono promised, "There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms." 

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Dig deeper:

The final track, "Torn," features "what has sadly turned out to be [Parton’s] last recorded vocal performance," the statement continued. A representative for Parton confirmed that the track is her final performance. The song was written by U2, Parton, and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid, and is described as "a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances." 

The backstory:

While "Carnaval De Luz" is U2’s first full-length record since 2017’s "Songs of Experience," the band has not been quiet this year. As they mark their 50th anniversary, the group has already dropped "Days of Ash" and "Easter," a pair of six-song EPs that came out on Ash Wednesday and Easter, respectively.

The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press and Interscope Records. This story was reported from Orlando.


 

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