U2 bandmates Bono and the Edge have joined forces with Dutch DJ Martin Garrix on a new song called “We Are the People.”

The track, which was completed prior to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, is the official song of the UEFA European Football Championship. Its release was delayed when the soccer tournament was pushed back from 2020 to 2021.

Garrix began working on “We Are the People'' three years ago. While listening to an early demo version, he realized the song’s guitar part had a distinct U2 vibe. The DJ began dreaming about a possible collaboration with the Irish rockers, but assumed such an arrangement would never come to fruition.

“And then my manager was like, ‘Well, you can always try to reach out to U2,'” Garrix recalled to Rolling Stone. “If you never reach out, you always have a no.”

To the DJ’s surprise, he got a phone call from Bono only six hours after sending the singer an email. “I remember I had to mute myself on the phone during the conversation just to scream and then unmute and play it cool,” Garrix admitted, noting that Bono already had vocal ideas during that initial call. “It was incredible.”

The three musicians recorded “We Are the People” in Monaco, an experience Garrix will never forget. “I had goosebumps in the studio the entire time,” the DJ confessed. “Because it’s Bono standing next to me singing the song.”

Now, three years after it began, “We Are the People” has finally been released to the world. Watch the song's official music video below.

U2’s last album, Songs of Experience, was released in 2017. In the time since then, the band has contributed to a T. Rex tribute album and released a one-off single with composer A.R. Rahman. The band was reportedly working on new material prior to the COVID-19 shutdown.

 

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