Bono didn’t want to look like a stalker when he called Rosalía to ask for her blessing to title a U2 song after her.
The 34-year-old singer became the muse for the track The Mirror Maker (Rosalía) on the Irish rock veterans’ upcoming LP Carnaval de Luz, slated for release on November 13.
The 66-year-old artist’s friend Penélope Cruz connected him with Rosalía, yet he admits he was uneasy at first.
Bono told Rolling Stone UK in a fresh cover interview: “It’s just a little embarrassing that she became so popular before we put out the song. But that doesn’t matter to me. Everyone knew about Martin Luther King too.”
He recalled: “I called Penélope: ‘What am I gonna do?’ (Penélope said), ‘Just call her.’ I’m like, ‘I look like a stalker.'”
Rosalía took the gesture as flattering, but Bono remains reluctant to meet her in person and to share the final mix of the track.
He stated: “(Rosalía has) been really encouraging, and made me laugh a lot.
“I kind of don’t think I could meet her now. I’m just gathering the nerve to send her the final mix.”
Bono later elaborated on the idea that some artists “want to go through the mirror and see what’s on the other side.”
He highlighted the kind of figures who have done that for him: “Patti Smith was one for me when I was growing up. There are many, though not enough. Rosalía is certainly one of them.”
He described the quality they share: “It’s this sense that we’re body, soul and spirit – a rather old-fashioned, quaint notion – and she approaches it with great courage and a self-effacing humor. There’s not just physics; there’s metaphysics.”
The forthcoming album includes the final track recorded by the late Dolly Parton, Torn.
Bono has found it difficult to bring himself to listen to the song after the country icon’s death.
Dolly insisted on recording the piece despite her illness.
He told Rolling Stone: “When she fell ill, she got out of bed to sing this song. And you can hear that. And I can’t even listen to it now.”
The Vertigo frontman explained that he had initially discussed another folk-flavored project with Parton, but she instead offered Torn — a song she had written and wished the band to explore.
He recalled: “She said: ‘That’s a little too Irish for me.’ But then she added: ‘I’ve got this song called Torn. Maybe you can take it somewhere else?’”
Bono described her performance as remarkable, noting: “She sang her heart out and I can’t believe that’s an 80-year-old woman.”
The experience of collaborating so closely with her in her final months remains with him: “It’s very moving to have shared these intimacies with someone of her stature. The fact that she’s no longer here, except through her songs, is very sobering.”
