To mark the release of Songs Of Surrender, Island Records and Interscope today share details of U2SOS40, a unique collaborative project which has seen 40 artists and creators from around the world invited to create a 60 second piece of content, each soundtracked by re-recorded U2 song.
The result is 40 new visual interpretations of U2’s music - 40 stories by 40 creatives - to mark the release of Songs Of Surrender, a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band’s catalogue, re-recorded and re-imagined for 2023.
Artists include Indian-born Tanima Mehrotra who documented her local skate crew in Mexico City who “embody the kind of freedom that comes with youthful curiosity”; Ben Elias, a director and cinematographer from New Zealand whose film is “a walking tour of Aotearoa starring my grandparents”; Alana O’Herlihy, a multidisciplinary photographer, director and mixed media artist who “…decided to take the very serious subject matter that Sunday Bloody Sunday is about, and juxtapose it with those coming of age moments for women, and that loss of innocence."; and Yanya Yatsuk, a U.S.-based Ukrainian-born photographer who wanted to “make something that told a story about love”.
Each piece will be shared by the respective creator on their social media channels over the coming weeks, linked by the hashtag #U2SOS40.
The list of 40 artists includes:
Yana Yatsuk Pride
Donte Colley With or Without You
Actual Objects Stories For Boys
Elle Johnson Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Maddy Rotman 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
Blu DeTiger Desire
Alana O'Herlihy Sunday Bloody Sunday
Ben Elias 40
Goldmond Fong Stay (Faraway, So Close)
Mitch DeQuilettes Beautiful Day
Terry O'Connor / Benny Drama Two Hearts Beat As One
Ella Mai Weisskamp Dirty Day
Dylan McGale Red Hill Mining Town
Tanima Mehrotra I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Sam Dameshek City of Blinding Lights
Phil Berge Electrical Storm
fromm.studio Bad
Byron Spencer Ordinary Love
Kelly Butts-Spirito If God Will Send His Angels
Also released today in conjunction with Songs Of Surrender, a one-hour Zane Lowe interview special on Apple Music along with a first-ever NPR Tiny Desk appearance by Bono and The Edge. The pair also visited the BBC’s legendary Maida Vale studios last month to perform three tracks for Radio 2’s Piano Room accompanied by members of the BBC Concert Orchestra: ‘Vertigo', ‘One' plus a cover of ABBA’s ‘SOS'.
