On Friday, a world-conquering Irish rock band shared a paean to a younger trailblazing musician. Four songs into U2’s 15th album, “Carnaval de Luz,” the Edge’s acoustic guitar-playing kicks off a song titled “The Mirror Maker (Rosalía).”
Yes, that Rosalía. The 34-year-old singer-songwriter whose recent album “Lux” contains lyrics in 14 languages about saints and martyrs and classical touches from the London Symphony Orchestra. You might ask: Why exactly is Bono singing about the Spanish genre-bender?
“We normally just write songs about people in jail or dead people. You know, dead heroes, or trying to get them out of jail,” Bono told Rolling Stone, eventually comparing Rosalía to Patti Smith. “This is just celebrating somebody just because they’re an extraordinary artist.”
While working on “The Mirror Maker,” Bono connected with Rosalía through a mutual friend, actress Penélope Cruz, to get approval and to ask about some of the song’s Spanish translations. Each of the song’s choruses ends with a line of tribute: “In your dancing we learn how to pray/ Rosalía, make the world go away.”
On “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Rosalía recounted the experience of texting with Bono. “It’s mind-blowing because when I was a kid, I used to hear his songs,” she said, before singing a line of “With or Without You.”
The post Why U2 wrote a song about Rosalía — with her blessing appeared first on Washington Post.
