Songfacts®:

• Over a chilled-out, contemplative groove, Régine Chassagne and Win Butler, the married core of Arcade Fire, trade dreamy lines over a low-slung bass thrum, punctuated by slow-burn, anthemic flashes. They reassure those feeling off-kilter:
  
  It's the season of change
  And if you feel strange, it's probably good
  
  Butler and Chassagne admit that "times are weird and bad," yet argue that discomfort can signal growth. It's Arcade Fire's glass-half-full take on global turbulence.
• The title nods to 2025's Chinese Zodiac sign, the Year of the Snake. In Chinese tradition, Snake years symbolize renewal and transformation - perfect imagery for a band forever shedding its skin.
• Régine Chassagne and Win Butler penned the track together. They also produced the song with studio legend Daniel Lanois, known for his work with U2 and Bob Dylan.
• "Year Of The Snake" was released on April 8, 2025 as Arcade Fire's lead single from their seventh album, Pink Elephant. It was their first major release since sexual misconduct allegations were made against Win Butler in 2022, which he has denied.
• "Year of the Snake" was recorded at Win Butler and Régine Chassagne's Good News Recording Studio in New Orleans. The married couple played all the instruments on the track apart from Daniel Lanois contributing additional pedal steel guitar and percussion. It was the first time on an Arcade Fire recording that Win Butler sat behind the drum kit.
• David Wilson (David Guetta, Arctic Monkeys, Tame Impala) directed the music video with additional creative collaboration from Mark Prendergast and Arcade Fire. The clip follows Butler and Chassagne on a road trip that ties their roots together, starting at Mardi Gras in their adopted New Orleans and rolling west to Texas rodeos near Butler's native Houston.
• Arcade Fire premiered "Year Of The Snake" live on Saturday Night Live on May 9, 2025, their sixth appearance on the show (their first was in 2007). Host Walton Goggins, fresh off The White Lotus, handled the introduction.