Coldplay's Chris Martin Gets Personal: Inside the New Issue

Singer opens up about Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow and more

 

BY ROLLING STONE February 8, 2016

 

Coldplay's Chris Martin opens up about Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow and more in the new issue of Rolling Stone. Photograph by Peggy Sirota for Rolling Stone

 

Over the past two years, Coldplay's Chris Martin has orchestrated big hits, weathered a public divorce from Gwyneth Paltrow and managed to keep a low profile all the while. Now he's opening up in a big way. In an insightful new cover story in the latest issue ofRolling Stone (on newsstands Friday, February 12th), he discusses all the highs and lows that have shaped his recent years, as well as how he's learned to live with the haters and steer his band back toward bright, pop-rock hit-making with their recent, triumphant album A Head Full of Dreams.

 

Photograph by Peggy Sirota for Rolling Stone

Martin also talks about the excitement he felt leading up to what would be Coldplay's biggest concert ever – the Super Bowl 50 halftime show – as he trained physically and plotted just how Bruno Mars and Beyoncé would play their roles onstage. "To me, that's the climax of everything," he says.

 

 

Some of the highlights from this revealing cover story include:

 

He remains friendly with Gwyneth Paltrow.

"I have a very wonderful separation-divorce," he says. "It's a divorce – but it's a weird one." He also looks at the word "divorce" with more fluidity than most people. "I don't think about that word very often," he said. "I don't see it that way. I see it as more like you meet someone, you have some time together and things just move through."

 

He's open to constructive criticism, especially from Beyoncé.

Martin once presented a song to Beyoncé called "Hook Up" and played it in the studio for her and producer Stargate. She turned it down, he says, "in the sweetest possible way: She told me, 'I really like you – but this is awful.'"

 

Watch Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars' Epic Super Bowl Show »

He's open to new music – and dance trends.

Martin's children recently put him onto Silentó's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)." "I'm not sure if I can whip, but I can nae nae with the best of them," he reveals.

 

He draws inspiration from the movie Rocky IV.

"Rocky IV has the most awesome training sequence of all time," he says. "I think it triggers the young boy in me who saw it and was like, 'Wow – if you wanna do something, just fucking lift logs!'" The movie has also guided his post-vegetarian diet: "If Rocky eats it, I do, too."

 

He's aware you might not be a fan of his band.

"I had a couple of years in the mid-2000s where it was really confusing to me," he says of Coldplay jokes. "I was like, 'Why is our band sometimes a punch line?'"

 

Also in the issue: The Revenant filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the Koch Brothers' fight against solar power, the Beach Boys' Mike Love, a look inside a polygamist cult, Black Sabbath's last ride and more.

 

rolling stone

Oh this interview looks sooo good! Cant wait to read it in full! :D

 

Martin once presented a song to Beyoncé called "Hook Up" and played it in the studio for her and producer Stargate. She turned it down, he says, "in the sweetest possible way: She told me, 'I really like you – but this is awful.'"

Hmm If "Formation" is wonderful, I can see why anything Chris Martin would have offered her might have been awful *LOL*

Oh this interview looks sooo good! Cant wait to read it in full! :D

 

Martin once presented a song to Beyoncé called "Hook Up" and played it in the studio for her and producer Stargate. She turned it down, he says, "in the sweetest possible way: She told me, 'I really like you – but this is awful.'"

 

Hmm If "Formation" is wonderful, I can see why anything Chris Martin would have offered her might have been awful *LOL*

 

Whatever, I'm still glad no Coldplay song by the name of "Hook Up" has come into existence :)

 

Hope someone posts a high resolution scan here when it comes out :D

Whatever, I'm still glad no Coldplay song by the name of "Hook Up" has come into existence :)

 

Hope someone posts a high resolution scan here when it comes out :D

 

It would have been a Beyoncé song :) To me probably nothing will ever beat the weirdness of a title that is "Ode to Deodorant" LOL

 

 

 

:wideeyed:

 

 

I need this

 

 

 

for research purposes :wideeyed:

 

And of course my shitty ass city doesn't sell this magazine anywhere :wacky:

:wideeyed:

 

 

I need this

 

 

 

for research purposes :wideeyed:

 

And of course my shitty ass city doesn't sell this magazine anywhere :wacky:

 

Public library maybe? Here we have magazines from all over the world, many more than are sold in newsagents! :) Worth checking? :)

Public library maybe? Here we have magazines from all over the world, many more than are sold in newsagents! :) Worth checking? :)

Hm yeah, good idea! The last time I went there was about 19 years ago, let's see if it's still standing lol :awesome:

Hm yeah, good idea! The last time I went there was about 19 years ago, let's see if it's still standing lol :awesome:

 

Tsk tsk got to support your local library :) Go go :D

I don't know but I find the pose on the cover really funny... To me that looks like a little girl's pose or something :curtain:

I don't know but I find the pose on the cover really funny... To me that looks like a little girl's pose or something :curtain:

hahaa! true :) not the usual pose of a frontman in a (even limestone) rock band.

^ I love how on the second photo he's laying on the grass like

 

OH ! out on Feb 12th... no wonder I couldn't find it today . A little treat in store for the end of the week. Nice !

The mag will be out on 25th Feb! Just the day after my birthday :D

 

I love February of this year :dance:

Can't wait to read this :D

Anyone else scared to google what type of music Silentó's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" is ? :D

Anyone else scared to google what type of music Silentó's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" is ? :D

It's that super shite song everybody on vine dances to.

It's that super shite song everybody on vine dances to.

There goes my hope for LP9

The great people at news.coldplay tumblr have scanned the article. Here it is:

 

 

 

LINK

The great people at news.coldplay tumblr have scanned the article. Here it is:

 

 

 

LINK

Awesome! Thanks :D

The great people at news.coldplay tumblr have scanned the article. Here it is:

 

 

 

LINK

Yay! I can't wait to read it!

Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks for sharing it, I've read somewhere that it's a very moving interview

Thank you! Another lovely glimpse into his mind and personality. I always feel inspired by him.

 

And that comparison between the Rumi poem and Inside Out by the writer made me laugh. It's kind of true. :D

Just finished reading. Really nice interview. Many things we already knew and a large handful of (very interesting) others that we didn't yet. I love it how Chris is so open, exuberant, kind, funny and enthusiastic. I learn a lot from him :).

PS: how is it possible that one of the world's better known music magazines thinks that A Rush Of Blood To The Head came out in 2001 and that Adventure Of A Lifetime is actually called Adventures Of Lifetime? :P

This is indeed a nice interview, it is pretty personal and comes in the range of the Howard Stern and Zane Low interviews (both my favorites).

I also love the fact that Jonny and Phil add some personal stuff about how they experienced Chris' "depression" and were watching over him.

 

Anyone else scared to google what type of music Silentó's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" is ?

I just had to google it and oh boy, I hope this is not going to stick in his head. Bad idea Chris.

I don't understand humans such as Chris. Where the frick do they get all the energy from? HoW DO THEY WORK??

I'm getting exhausted of merely existing :blank: