U2 back with its best album

“Well, I really wasn’t expecting this! Maybe it’s because the last album (Songs of Innocence) wasn’t so [impressive] to me except for the uninvited appear[ance] in my iPhone… I mean I really am enjoying this album! I guess U2 has now understood what the audience really wants,” said Selina Tsai (11A).

When I first heard that U2 was coming back with a new album, I was not really expecting much—not because I don’t like their music, but because I had never heard of them. To be honest, I’m not much of a rock and roll fan, and so I had actually never listened to their music. However, when the album was released December 1^st, my first impression was, “Why haven’t I listened to them before?” I enjoyed every single song on the album. Even though they were rock songs that I was not used to listening to, each song transitioned seamlessly from one to the next.

I felt that the title song ‘You’re The Best Thing About Me’ was the best song on the album. I really liked how the music flowed, the beat and tempo of the music, as well as the overall message U2 tried to convey to the audience. After listening to the whole album, I searched their website and found out that before Songs of Experience was released, U2 was actually having a hard time because their last album(s) didn’t do so well. Also, even though U2 wanted to release Songs of Experience earlier, because of some obstacles, such as Trump’s election, the song release had to be postponed.

This year’s president election of America was a surprise to many people in the world, and the members of U2 were no exception. Even though ‘Songs of Experience’ was actually almost completed by the end of 2016, when Bono, the vocalist of the team heard that Trump was elected as the president, he pushed the release date of the album to make it more political. In effect, Andy Barlow, the producer of U2 actually stated that the album changed massively when Trump got elected.

After a year of work, the result was surprisingly satisfying. Learning about the background story of their album made me think that all other singers should also learn from U2, so they would not just come back with some random music when they had released their music a few months before. Also, I would like to recommend U2’s music to pretty much everyone who likes to listen to music. Many people might think that rock music is a little bit too uncomfortable to hear. However, the rock songs U2 presents can be heard by people who are not used to rock music.

Rock music might not be the favorite music to hear for everyone, but if you believe that you want to try and start to take some interest in rock music, I would recommend you to slowly start to take a step by listening to U2’s well-made album.

Featured Image by Zachary Gillman Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons