Written Before Listen
Coldplay is back. This is also the first time I’m actually anticipating something good from Coldplay too because one of their singles “Coloratura” might just be one of their best songs yet. Despite how I felt about “My Universe”, the theme of space and galaxies is always a cool venture in music. I always love how futuristic that stuff usually sounds. With that being said, let’s see what this album has in store for us.
Production
Alongside Coldplay, we have one of the biggest (sounding & known) producers of contemporary music. Max Martin. The Swedish songwriter and producer has been behind numerous big hits. Martin has produced for numerous huge pop stars. So many to name too, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, Kesha, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Arianna Grande, The Weeknd, Adele, Ed Sheeran, and now, Coldplay. Do I think Max is a good producer? Certainly. Do I think he produces great music? Not really. A lot of his production techniques and tricks are achieved for making pop music. He is known to create a big sound, not an innovative one. On this record that is an easy note. Songs like “Humankind” and “People Of The Pride” could’ve been solid enough songs if Max Martin didn’t overproduce them. The only time the overproduction worked in their favor is on the final track “Coloratura”. There is another notable producer in this album too. On the tracks “✨” and “♾️”, IDM legend Jon Hopkins comes in to add to the spaciness of this album. Overall, I do think the production is well done, but exactly that. It’s well done, overcooked.
Features
Coldplay….you don’t need features man. Why? Well, I guess the track with Selena Gomez isn’t terrible, but the rest of the songs with features are. “❤️”, is a pretentious vocal group with We Are King and Jacob Collier, and “My Universe” with BTS is the colliding of the two sellouts. Why are their features on this thing? Why?
Concept
Somehow, there is a concept in this album. The main concept Coldplay trying to make pop music sounds like is different places of the galaxy. Each album represents a planet in this fantasy world. Chris Martin even said that it was influenced by the galaxy of Star Wars. As a person who admires and loves Star Wars, this idea is complete and utter bullshit. Do you know how many sci-fi movies and space operas there are that you could’ve taken from? Surely, I’m not a movie buff so I can’t really give examples but even Dune could be an inspiration. This is really basic if you ask me.
Artistic Evolution
The most unfortunate thing about this album and Coldplay, in general, is that they used to be good. “Yellow” is a great song, “Trouble” is a great song, “The Scientist” Is an amazing song, “Clocks” is a great song, “viva la Vida” is a pretty good song. When the 2010s came, Coldplay became a different band. The song “Paradise” was easily their most commercial-sounding song at that point and they kind of stopped making good music. There was a reason why Brian Eno decided to produce them. They were a good band. With “Coloratura” coming out, I thought they were going to reinvent themselves, but they fooled us. They fooled us good.
Favorite Tracks
Honestly, other than “Coloratura”, there is not a good song on here. There are some flashes of a good song I guess on “Humankind”. Other than that, Coldplay got me hyped just to release another overly-commercial record.
Verdict
Well, If it wasn’t for Coloratura, this album probably is a 1, but since it does have “Coloratura”, it gets one bonus point because that song is pretty damn good.
2/10
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