U2 calls their songwriting process “functionally dysfunctional”

November 13, 2026 / 9:36 AM EST / CBS News

Fifty years after U2 began, and as their latest album launches to strong critical reviews, the band members say their songwriting process is "chaotic" and "functionally dysfunctional," in a wide-ranging interview with Anthony Mason for "CBS Sunday Morning" and the podcast "Alchemy with Anthony Mason."

The interview will be broadcast Sunday, Nov. 15th (9:00 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network, streamed on Paramount+, and featured in full on a special edition of Mason's "Alchemy" podcast, dropping Sunday on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The four band members – Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, and Larry Mullen, Jr. – open up about their songwriting process; returning to the school in Ireland where they met; their new album, "Carnaval de Luz" (released Friday); their upcoming tour; Mullen's return to drumming after surgery; and their legacy.

ANTHONY MASON: Do you guys write the same way you've always written? Has that process changed?

BONO: Very functionally dysfunctional … you would be shocked at just how raw it is and how just about to collapse.

THE EDGE: We're not precious in any way. Until almost the record is in the store, we will try…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/