By Katelyn Patterson | Reporter
Coldplay is one of the most well-known artists in the world, with over 58 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 21.4 million subscribers on YouTube. Their new album entitled “Music of the Spheres“ was released Friday and has received mixed reviews all around.
Many have said that the lackluster lyrics and mainstream song production make for a boring and unjustifiable album. I would argue that, although Coldplay’s songs are well-known and often touching, their lyrics have never been profound or distinct. Instead of songs full of metaphors where you have to dig for meaning, Coldplay often writes very plain and straightforward. In their song “Yellow,” frontman Chris Martin sings, “I wrote a song for you, and all the things you do.” There isn’t anything particularly special about that statement, but that’s what makes it sentimental. In my opinion, this is one of their selling points as artists.
“Music of the Spheres“ is a conceptual album that focuses on the humanity that connects us all, while even galaxies apart. It picks up right where their 2019 long-play album “Everyday Life” leaves off. This album is ecstatic and radiant, almost like a message of harmony.
“My Universe” was a single released on Sept. 24 and the song features K-pop superstars BTS, both on the song itself and the writing credits. This collaboration earned Coldplay its first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 ranking since 2008 with “Viva La Vida,” and BTS’ sixth No. 1. Martin described Coldplay’s thought process to Ryan Dombal for Pitchfork at the time as, “We can’t possibly get any bigger, let’s just get better.”
“The clamorous immensity of ‘Spheres’ suggests the band’s philosophy has been inverted: Coldplay can’t top what they’ve already done artistically, but maybe they can score several billion more streams anyway,” Dombal said.
Mikael Wood for The LA Times said most of the songs unload declarations of interstellar devotion.
“‘Humankind’ and the vaguely Weeknd-ish ‘Higher Power’ are zippy electro-rock tracks with sharp hooks and lots of crisp digital detailing; the mellow, love-dazed ‘Biutyful’ pitches up Chris Martin’s vocals to an unintelligible chipmunk squeak — not a bad move given that he turns out to be telling somebody, ‘I hope they name you a rocket and take you for a ride for free,’” Wood said.
Personally, I really enjoyed it. My favorite, “People of the Pride,” is a change of pace from the other ballads and synth-pop songs on the album with heavy drums and a jazzy horn chart. Music, like all forms of art, is subjective. “Music of the Spheres” is a joyful, thematic and soothing album with a message we could all stand to take to heart.
