U2 have released a new single, “Street of Dreams,” the first song from their upcoming new studio album due out later this year.
“Street of Dreams” finds U2 back in motivation mode, reprising oft-employed themes centering around hope and compassion. Rooted in The Edge’s chiming strums and Larry Mullen Jr.’s rolling snare pattern, the song is a joyful anthem that utilizes the band’s hallmark style.
That being said, Bono’s lyrics are a bit lofty and general this time around, with a lot of lines about how you shouldn’t give up on your dreams and a notable lack of specificity beyond singing the chorus en español. The rhythm section is nice, and there’s definitely some heartwarming sentiment here — but overall, lines like “Your dream needs you” and “Be here/ Be free/ Be yourself” make an otherwise inspiring tune jammed with platitudes.
A video for the song was filmed in Mexico City and features the band riding in a bus customized by artist Chavis Mármol. The band performed a short, public concert on top of the bus as part of the shoot. Watch it below.
The single follows U2’s surprise release of two EPs this year, February’s Days of Ash and April’s Easter Lily. The Dublin quartet’s last full-length, studio album of new material was 2017’s Songs of Experience. In 2023, the group put out Songs of Surrender, a collection of reinterpretations of material from their catalog.
Bono and The Edge are coming off a performance at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago in June.
