After Coldplay’s popular song “Yellow” was released several years ago, it became well known in pop culture. Hopelessly romantic and full of wonder, Coldplay begins to stay relevant and one of many artists that people have respect for.
Since then they’ve introduced us with a brand new album, which has a very unique sound and new style for the band. “Music of the Spheres” attempts to use the themes of the solar system, as they reach for universal feelings while moving from arenas to stadiums all around Earth. Impressive production coats the band’s classic guitar riffs in futuristic themes. For all their celestial allusions, the heartfelt lyrics never give in to the darkness of deep space. This album was produced by none other than Chris Martin, who has essentially defined the aspects of pop music. After making his name as the hitmaker of the ’90s teen-pop era, creating career-making classics, he has teamed up with established superstars like Selina Gomez and BTS for this project.
The album features Martin’s arena-worthy grandeur or his signature falsetto. These elements complement each other on each track, making his vocals without the effects sound great.
This can be shown on the track “My Universe,” a collaboration with BTS. The new collaborative effort from the two music groups stands as a testament to the notion that no matter what cultural divides keep people apart, anyone can come together over a love of genuinely good music. Coldplay and BTS have both individually smashed records and released countless chart-topping hits, but this song stands out as a unique approach to the sounds that made each group as famous as they are. The vocals on this track are the best in the whole album, as not as many effects were put into it. I think that makes the song more special when it comes to the listeners. You can tell in this song they enjoyed the process of writing and making this track.
“Let Somebody Go,” a duet with Selena Gomez, is an adult-contemporary ballad putting the two vocalists into a state of misery, seeking to explain the irrationality of how relationships form and dissolve. Both the theme and the harmonies stood out as being one of the best tracks on the album. Selena’s voice fit well, Although it didn’t convey much emotion the two artists pulled it off without too many complaints.
Even though the album was decent, I thought as a whole it was a bit disorganized or too layered in voice affects. This was a little disappointing to me as I love Chris Martin’s original voice. It’s soothing and nostalgic, and this album seemed more for beating records.
The tracks on the album had similar themes while some tracks did sound slightly out of place. For example in total there were about five interludes that to me didn’t really need to be there. This made only a few songs particularly memorable or would get much radio-play.
But altogether the production and the few selected songs are hard to complain about. I would recommend listening to “Music Of The Spheres,” as Coldplay’s ability and vocals shine brightly in this album.