Coldplay
Music of the Spheres
Parlophone/Atlantic
Buy via Official Store | Listen Below
Twenty-one years ago, Coldplay burst onto the scene with their debut album Parachutes (2000) and its breakthrough hit "Yellow" which catapulted them into the stratosphere. It was an unwitting Faustian bargain as critics lauded its alt-rock vibe and catchy pop-inspired melodies. As with many bands who gain broad global success off their debut album, it was also their heaviest weight, as it created expectations about what future albums should sound like.
Over the course of those ensuing twenty-one years, they have remained a fixture on the charts with a slew of great albums and increasingly catchy tunes. Purists and music snobs (and I'll plead the fifth on that) lamented with each passing album that the Coldplay that produced Parachutes and the epic A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) seemed to veer from their preconceived path and embraced a wider musical spectrum that saw them, dare we say, go pop.
Which makes you wonder, as a music lover, are you actually a lover of a band/artist or, more accurately, a lover of a specific album? For bands like U2, Radiohead, and yes Coldplay, who seemed to be defined by their early albums, stepping off that path into electronica (as U2 did with 1991’s Achtung Baby, 1993’s Zooropa, and 1997’s Pop) or into cerebral glitching art-rock (as Radiohead did with 2000’s Kid A and beyond) will always have fans and critics decrying a new direction or the concept of "selling out."
In the wake of the lackluster performance of the band's 2019 release Everyday Life, their new venture, the sci-fi scoped out Music of the Spheres can feel like an overcorrection. Teaming up with pop producer wunderkind Max Martin, the expectation is set for a more pop-oriented album. That alone would have some purists up in arms. Add into the mix collaborations with of the moment pop sensations BTS and a curious pairing with Selena Gomez, the album—at least on paper—has all the marking of a desperate grab for chart relevancy.
But Coldplay have always straddled this line. After all, this is the band that has shared sonic space with Beyoncé, Rihanna, and The Chainsmokers. So perhaps this latest batch of collabs shouldn't be as surprising (or seen as desperate) as initially viewed.
What it ultimately comes down to is this. Is Music of the Spheres any good? And the answer is mostly yes. Whether that response is begrudging or emphatic will depend on your own penchant for pop and its current poster kids.
With Music of the Spheres, Coldplay bring together all of the elements that have kept them feeding us earworms. There are catchy anthems aplenty, stadium-ready rousers, bombastic ballads, and delicate moments of intimacy. There's also a moment or two of surprising experimentation in their emoji-titled segues that broaden the album's scope and give it that bigger “universe of sound” feel.
There's the catchy foot-stomper "Higher Power" that you'll find yourself singing and cringing through the lazy rhyme scheme of the chorus, but delighting in the observations of the verses. It's a feel-good album opener and sets the tone for the majority of Spheres. After an extended sense of isolation, Coldplay is here to lift us up and unite us once more in a stadium near you.
"My Universe" with its heart on its sleeve honesty and BTS appearance is a jubilant track that will have audiences exploding with joy when performed live (and it has all the hallmarks of a big encore moment) and "Humankind," with its bombastic synth lines and sing-along chant, feels set to give a moment of euphoria to the listener and only falters in the on-the-nose final line.
Spheres comes into its own in the four-track run that begins with "Let Somebody Go," a stripped-back duet with Selena Gomez. The track surprises in that it doesn't push into the expected dance-inspired space. Instead, the softness allows Martin and Gomez's vocals to connect and create a sense of intimacy before moving into the power ballad trope of reverb heavy drums to bring it home. Interesting to note that Martin's 17-year-old daughter gets a songwriting credit here.
Next, we move into another collab, "♥" with a harmony stacked reflection on the damage of gender roles, as Martin's vocals are surrounded by Jacob Collier, and We Are KING. The treated vocal stacks give the song an otherworldly view, as if humans are being observed by an outside entity looking to understand our shortcomings.
"♥" quickly segues into a rocket ride through power rock, fueled by Muse heavy fuzz riffs and a stomping beat that is guaranteed to have fists pumping with every knee-jerk "yeah." The unexpected delight of "Biutyful" with its manipulated high pitch vocals and 1975-style production reveals itself like a flower blooming and is a nice laidback take on pop.
The album-closing, extended play "Coloratura" is a sonic journey in itself, with hints of Beatle-esque ambition coupled with classic Martin piano and vocal introduction before the song extends its horizons and reaches to the back row of the universe.
Whether or not Music of the Spheres is your kind of Coldplay will depend on whether you're willing to go where the band wants to go or if you are, in reality, a fan of albums instead of the band. Having introduced themselves with "Yellow" all those years ago by asking us to "Look at the stars," it feels fitting that they at least strive to create an album that can take us there.
Notable Tracks: “Biutyful” | “Coloratura” | “♥” | “Let Somebody Go”
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