Summer of Love: U2 Meets Fifth Harmony

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2018-08-28)

Update: August 30, 2018

Just a few updates to this story as we have obtained additional information:

There will be no commercial release on August 31, 2018. More releases to promote “Summer of Love” are coming (see story below) but there will NOT be a commercial release tomorrow.
Rusty Egan will be dropping his “Sunset Mix” done with HP Hoeger of “Summer of Love” on his show on Friday. Egan’s show airs on Friday night at a variety of locations including Channel Music Radio and Artefaktor Radio and GCR Digital Radio. This new mix of “Summer of Love” is a darker but beautiful take on the song, we’ve heard a snippet and can say it sounds amazing.
Lauren Jauregui does not feature on the Rusty Egan / HP Hoeger “Sunset” mix that is coming on Friday. Looks like we have to wait a bit longer for that mix to be released, unless it is issued for promotion this week.
Warning: Fake promotional CDRs of “Summer of Love” are circulating.

Original Story:

Lauren Jauregui isn’t a name that is likely to be familiar to many U2 fans. But many may know the group she has been a part of for six years — she is a member of the pop group Fifth Harmony. That group was formed during the North American televised singing competition The X Factor in 2012. Fifth Harmony has been active until recently, although in May it was announced the group was taking a hiatus, to allow members of the group to pursue solo projects. Jauregui is currently reported to be working on a solo album but it appears she has also taken some time to record a new vocal for a remix of “Summer of Love”. Maverick Management represents both U2 and Jauregui.

John Agnello and Stewart Lerman spoke about the recording of the vocals for the new mix of a U2 song with Jauregui. Both are American producers and recording engineers who spoke with each other on a recent podcast. Lerman was in studio to record the vocals for Jauregui at Electric Lady Studios.

“…one day on a U2 remix, doing a new vocal, with a gal who probably Bella would know. Lauren Jauregui, she’s from a band called Fifth Harmony. She came in. Bono already had his vocal already done. They had done the track, it’s on their last record, somebody tweaked it up to be more of a dance thing. And they got this gal on it. The track was good…it was much faster than the record. And this gal had rewritten her verse, and did all these backing vocals. So that was a day. The track could be a pretty big international song. She sang it in Spanish also. She’s part Cuban. It was mostly in English, and then she did a Spanish version which was really nice.”

The full podcast can be heard here, but the mention of the work with U2 has been removed.

Stewart Lerman is the engineer recording Jauregui’s vocals, but he did not do the remix of the song. The song had already been remixed from the details in the podcast. Lerman has worked with a number of acts over the years including sometimes U2 collaborators Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, and Angelique Kidjo.

U2 has recently allowed younger popular acts to mix their songs for the album Songs of Experience. Kygo remixed the lead single “You’re The Best Thing About Me” to help launch the album. More recently Cheat Codes remixed the track, and their version featured their own vocals and lyrics on the new mix. It sounds like Jauregui will be allowed to put her own spin on the song with a mention she’s rewritten her verse on this new remix. And also that she’s recorded the song in Spanish. The song already has a few pop vocals in the mix, the album mix of “Summer of Love” features Lady Gaga as well as Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic on backing vocals.

We have confirmed with our sources that additional remixes of “Summer of Love” are planned, and they spoke of a “second wave” of remixes being on the way. As well, they suggested to us that the next release would arrive on Friday, August 31, as U2 kicks off the second leg of their eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour in Europe. We are not aware of the track listing for this release at this time, but will confirm when it is available. We are also told to expect a video to support the song soon.

“Summer of Love“ is the follow up single to “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way.” “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way” was promoted with a very successful campaign of remixes which saw U2 reach #1 on the Billboard Dance Club Charts, including a mix of promotional only and commercially available remixes. The first round of remixes commercially released for “Summer of Love” were released on August 10, 2018, and featured four remixes of the song, including mixes by Robin Schulz, TILT & Danny Stubbs, Howie B, and HP Hoeger and Rusty Egan. Those songs were released on iTunes, other digital storefronts, and are available on streaming services as well. Additional mixes by Schulz and Hoeger and Egan have been made available for promotion of the track as well. “Summer of Love” was the sixth most added song last week added to clubs that report to the Billboard Dance Club Charts, and is expected to start charting on that chart soon. A push of a new remix with a vocal by Jauregui would certainly push the song higher on these charts.

Thanks to LMJUpdates for bringing some of this information to our attention.

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