"Invisible" is a song by Irish rock band U2. Produced by Danger Mouse, it was released as a non-album single on 2 February 2014. The song was unveiled in a Super Bowl XLVIII television advertisement, launching a promotion that offered the song as a free digital download in the iTunes Store from 2–3 February. For each download of the track, Bank of America donated $1 to (RED), an organisation co-founded by lead vocalist Bono, to fight HIV/AIDS. Ultimately, $3.1 million was raised during the 36-hour promotion. Since 4 February, "Invisible" has been available as a paid download that continues to benefit (RED).
Written and recorded during the sessions for the band's 14th album Songs of Innocence, "Invisible" was the second non-album single to be issued leading up to the album's September 2014 release, following "Ordinary Love" in 2013. A longer version of "Invisible" was later included as a hidden track on certain deluxe editions of Songs of Innocence. Lyrically, "Invisible" was inspired by the group's early experiences of leaving home to play in London with the desire to be noticed by audiences, as well as Bono's tumultuous relationship with his father.
The song, described as an electronic-tinged rock anthem, was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. The song has also charted in several countries, and topped the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart in the United States. A music video for the song was directed by Mark Romanek and released on 11 February 2014. U2 performed the song on the premiere episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on the observation deck of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
Writing and composition
"Invisible" is an electro-tinged rock anthem. It begins with a "brittle, electronic passage," reminiscent of Joy Division. Simple keyboard movements and chiming guitars lead to a "sky-scraping chorus," and lyrics "harnessing notions of self-respect, both the personal kind and the universal-struggle kind." The song was written during the recording sessions for their 13th studio album Songs of Innocence, for which they began working with producer Danger Mouse in 2011. Lead vocalist Bono said that during the process of writing new material, they "went back to why we wanted to be in a band in the first place. It opened up a whole valve for me writing and it was a dam burst of sorts. Punk rock and electronic [music] was when it started for us. We were listening to the Ramones and Kraftwerk and you can hear both of those things on 'Invisible'."
Musically, guitarist the Edge said that "Invisible" began as demo he recorded in Los Angeles that was originally a "straight-rock song" that evoked the Ramones. After he presented it to the rest of the band in Dublin, they decided to strip the song back and try different arrangement ideas, none of which they were satisfied with. Ultimately, the group settled on an electronic-oriented arrangement while working with Danger Mouse. The changes to the song felt like "fresh territory" to Bono and enabled him "to own it as a singer".
According to Bono, his initial lyrics were set on a train arriving into London during his first visit to the city in 1979 at age 18, as he recalled "sleeping in Euston station, being broke". In a radio interview with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe, he explained that he was writing about "leaving home... with just enough rage to see it through... and then coming out into the punk rock explosion that was happening in the late '70s... really wild, extraordinary looking people and then feeling deeply sort of not extraordinary... And you feel invisible but you're screaming to be seen and you've got your band and this is your whole life... It's just that feeling of getting out of town." Bono later gave an alternate explanation for the song's lyrics, explaining that they were inspired by his relationship with his father. Bono said that taking a stage name and not being known to the world by his father's last name, Hewson, was hurtful to his father; this is reflected in lyrics such as "I finally found my real name" and "No, I won't be my father's son". Bono commented that the line "You don't see me but you will / I am not invisible" may have been an overcompensation on his part in expressing his feelings to his father. The line "There is no them / There's only us" was meant to represent the band's attempt to break down barriers separating them from their audience.