U2 have announced that they are delaying the release of their upcoming album following the surprise victory of Donald Trump, claiming that they’ll have to revise certain tracks on the new record as “the world is a different place”.

The Irish rock titans, who last released an album in September 2014 called Songs of Innocence, said in a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine that Trump’s unexpected election victory in November meant that they now needed some “breathing space” to revise the content and performance of some of their upcoming 14th album’s songs.

U2U2 are delaying the release of their upcoming album because of Donald Trump's victory

“We just went, ‘Hold on a second – we’ve got to give ourselves a moment to think about this record and about how it relates to what’s going on in the world,’” guitarist The Edge explained, adding that Trump’s victory was like a “pendulum [that] has suddenly just taken a huge swing in the other direction.”

The band, now in their 40th year, had planned to release the new record, set to be called Songs of Experience, early this year having completed its production toward the end of last year.

However, as most of it had been written early on in the year or before, Trump’s victory placed them in a different context. “Now, as I think you’d agree, the world is a different place,” he said.

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U2’s views on the president-elect are well known. At a benefit concert in October, lead singer Bono told a virtual avatar of Trump “you’re fired”, and the month before at the iHeartRadio festival he changed the lyrics of ‘Desire’ to address the controversial Republican candidate.

Meanwhile, the group has recently announced a world tour to mark the 30th anniversary of their iconic 1987 album The Joshua Tree. Commenting on why they were choosing to do this, they observed that today’s political climate bore a resemblance to the Thatcher / Reagan era.

“It was a period when there was a lot of unrest,” The Edge said. “It feels like we’re right back there in a way.”

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