Kneecap are back with a thumping new song, “Sayōnara.”
Featuring production from Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll, “Sayōnara” boasts a rave-rap style with Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí rapping in their native Irish language throughout. With its quick tempo, synth stabs, and industrial hue, “Sayōnara” resembles Orbital, The Prodigy, and Underworld’s darkened rave stylings while reprising Kneecap’s enthusiastic deliveries and punk attitude. Watch the song’s official music video — starring Derry Girls’ Jamie Lee O’Donnell — below.
The Irish trio began including “Sayōnara” in their festival sets this year, including a performance at their highly-attended Glastonbury 2025 set. With the song’s release, Kneecap shared on Twitter: “We’ve seen yis going mad for this one in mosh pits all summer… a collab between us and the legend Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.”
Though Kneecap have made headlines throughout their summer festival season for advocating for the Palestinian freedom and an end to the genocide in Gaza, they’ve been light on new music since the release of their 2024 album Fine Art. Earlier this year, the group shared the similarly-raucous new song “The Recap,” which featured guest production from Mozey and took aim at UK conservative Kemi Badenoch. “Sayōnara” and “The Recap” will be released together on both green & black vinyl beginning October 10th.
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Because of Mo Chara’s terror offense charge in the UK, Kneecap were recently forced to cancel their 2025 US tour. “Due to the close proximity of our next court hearing in London on September 26th – as the British government continues its witch-hunt – with the start of the U.S. tour, we will have to cancel all 15 US tour dates in October,” the band announced last month. They will, however, continue with their 2025 shows in Canada and their scheduled appearances in the UK and Europe.
