On paper, it looks like Coldplay are getting desperate. Their last album, 2019’s ‘Everyday Life’, was a double record that delivered several solid gold pop tunes despite sections of creative drift. But it didn’t really butter the parsnips commercially, and they’ve moved to shore up this oversight by calling in collabs with BTS and Selena Gomez.
Add to this the fact that the band have opted for emoji song titles in a galactic concept album, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that they’d gone full Orlando Bloom and are thrashing around for renewed relevance and commercial tie-ins. Well...they are. And yet ‘Music of the Spheres’ hangs together surprisingly well.
Said BTS collaboration My Universe is standard pop fare that is elevated by the presence of the K-Pop superstars.
Instead of feeling like a hackneyed piece of product placement, their joint dynamic gives the single a worldbeat vibe that feels like it’s bringing people together in a kind, meaningful way.
Similarly, Let Somebody Go (Gomez’s contribution) is a starstruck ballad that manoeuvres its way around Coldplay tropes with familiar fluency, the duet feeling natural and elegant as a result. And Biutyful also works despite its cringe-inducing constituent parts, such as a digitally heightened Chris Martin vocal.
Since they burst onto the scene as dreary indie kids in 2000, Coldplay have transformed into a kind of Technicolor soft rock/world pop juggernaut. It’s unabashedly Peter Gabriel meets U2, and ‘Music of the Spheres’ is surprisingly successful in this context. What it lacks in political teeth it makes up for in blind compassion. People will hate it, of course, but the greenbacks are likely rolling in again.
Coldplay Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri August 12 2022 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Sat August 13 2022 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Tue August 16 2022 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Wed August 17 2022 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Fri August 19 2022 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Sat August 20 2022 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Tue August 23 2022 - GLASGOW Hampden Park National Stadium
Wed August 24 2022 - GLASGOW Hampden Park National Stadium
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
