Bono plumbs the mysteries of music in his work, his life and in 'Sing 2'

Bono is at home, literally, talking about his first substantial acting role and the ongoing mystery of what he does for a living.

"Making music has been a source of great frustration for me as well as great joy," he says over a video call. "I didn't have musical training as a kid. So I have to depend on my three bandmates and others to get the melodies I hear in my head, or the ideas, across. And therein lies great frustration, that you depend on others — and the great joy, that you depend on others — and they happen to be your best mates."

When referred to as "an actual musician," the famed frontman of U2 grins in this cozy room in his Dublin abode and says, "Well, that might be an exaggeration. That's why I'm involved with this: I'm obsessed with what it takes to become one. But I know musicians."

In "Sing 2," Garth Jennings' sequel to his 2016 music-mad-animals hit, Bono voices Clay Calloway, a storied superstar singer-songwriter (portrayed as a great, silver-maned lion) who has long been a recluse since the death of his wife. Much of the film is about the search