“The Lightning I” and “The Lightning II” are the lead singles from Arcade Fire’s forthcoming album, WE. The song was released on March 17, 2022. In the week of release, several fans across the US and Canada received postcards with the phrase “WE missed you” followed by musical notes.

In the same week, the band performed this and other new songs in some small concerts around the US, of which, the second show, on March 14, 2022, was broadcast on the band’s official social media.

Arcade Fire shared more explanations on the song by sending an email to fans after the release. They recorded the songs with Nigel Godrich in El Paso at the peak of COVID-19 and the US 2020 Election. The emotional vocals are inspired by Haitian immigrants gathered on the US border when they heard of the election results.

In the Lightning dilogy, lightning is depicted as an answer to our questions. This could be an apocalypse or the savior. Whatever it is, in the end, “some we win, and some we lose”.

Throughout this song, a sample of the theme song of the Canadian TV show, PAW Patrol can be heard, alongside with The Lighting II.