A L I E N S

[I ran away]

I really love this song, have been listening to it a lot in the past few days and I think in the meantime it has even surpassed my love for Hypnotised, making it my favorite Coldplay release in a long time. So I have been asking myself why I love this song so much. A lot of people here have said that it sounds like a song from the MX Era, but it doesn't sound like that to me, although it originates from the MX recording sessions, of course.

 

I know the song is about refugees and I love the message it sends, but if you don't think about it from that angle for a second, I think the lyrics are generally very relatable to other situations of insecurity, uncertainty and alienation that we may feel in our lives, and it thus thematically follows up on the X&Y Era. The space sounds theme that runs throughout and the melancholic melody add to the feeling that this could be something out of the X&Y Era (which a touch of Viva experimentalism).

 

What do you think ?

[prospekt46]

I really love this song, have been listening to it a lot in the past few days and I think in the meantime it has even surpassed my love for Hypnotised, making it my favorite Coldplay release in a long time. So I have been asking myself why I love this song so much. A lot of people here have said that it sounds like a song from the MX Era, but it doesn't sound like that to me, although it originates from the MX recording sessions, of course.

 

I know the song is about refugees and I love the message it sends, but if you don't think about it from that angle for a second, I think the lyrics are generally very relatable to other situations of insecurity, uncertainty and alienation that we may feel in our lives, and it thus thematically follows up on the X&Y Era. The space sounds theme that runs throughout and the melancholic melody add to the feeling that this could be something out of the X&Y Era (which a touch of Viva experimentalism).

 

What do you think ?

 

Just feels like the lyrics are a storytelling piece like much of VLV and X&Y.

[Sonny]

I just listened to Moving To Mars and Aliens back to back, they're a perfect match. It would have been interesting if Mylo Xyloto took this direction (for those who don't know, Aliens came about in the early MX sessions).

[cp3176]

Replies are rather long so I'll save scrolling time...

 

 

Thanks man. That was the idea of it. I actually made some more mixing edits and I'm gonna post it soon

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Cool, excited to hear it :)

 

I just went back to Youtube to watch the video again and I realized that almost all the top voted comments on the first page are hateful, anti-refugee comments ! That's such a shame, isn't there something we can do about this ? Like collectively downvote these comments and upvote other comments instead (comments that are actually about the song, for example) ? So much hate underneath such a beautiful song....

 

As @jc90 hinted at, this is nothing new at all for YouTube comment sections. If you're gonna decide to scroll down and read the comments, expect very well for the popular comments to be poking fun at these things or supporting awful things, making everything into a political argument rather than seeing that this is meant to be something we use our caring side on. Politics in this sense corrupts it all, and unfortunately members and followers of certain political ideas don't seem to have that side at all to them.

Sadly, as someone else said, there's really nothing that can be done about these comments, YT won't take them down because they probably get enough reported comments every day about much worse things, and they don't really care anyway. As someone else mentioned, downvoting does nothing. We can try to upvote comments actually about the song, or ones that are pro-refugee and enjoy the song relating it to that, but that won't make them surpass the moronic comments because there simply isn't enough of us. As much as we want YT comment sections to be a great place for discussion and free of toxicity, I don't think that's gonna happen in a while until YT really cracks down on hurtful comments. However, I've seen comments sections that are highly regulated that still have a decent amount of this behaviour on there. It's just the way the Internet is. For whatever reason, it seems to be dominated by members and followers of certain political ideas and so they'll get the attention and the upvotes wherever they go! Exceptions usually tend to be in places that actively set politics aside in favor of the caring side of us. Key word: usually. Coldplaying isn't necessarily that kind of place since it focuses on Coldplay and not anything related to politics, but yet it is one of the few places on the Internet where you can regularly find caring people that know a lot more on these topics and are a lot more knowledgeable than the people that frequent YouTube comments sections. That's one of the reasons why this place is one of my favorite on the Internet, besides the fact that it's a place to discuss my favorite band, There's so many caring people here, it's like all of us are one big family, and we'll care for each other when things get rough... We support the charities and all that members of Coldplay donate to, and we support things like refugees coming to find a new home wherever they seek, although it's awful that due to what's going on in the place they lived in they have to do it, there's really no place else for them to go, and hopefully more people recognizes this, because it's for the better for a lot of them. And yes, not every single one of them has good intentions, but that can't stop us from letting those of them that are good into our country. Every race has it's baddies, and some people don't get that. They think that certain races are superior and more "perfect" than others, and that some races are filled with bad people, which they think is the races of the people that are refugees, which is simply not true! You can't judge a whole group based on a few bad people, and if we did so to every race, every race on the planet would be "bad". People in this world need to start thinking and realize this. Unfortunately, the people that frequent YouTube don't have enough brain cells to do so...

 

 

Yeah, I can't believe I didn't hear it in the video. In all fairness, it was after I had only heard the song one time.

 

So, I feel this is probably the only collection of songs I could maybe use to win over a Radiohead fan with.

I mean.. there's a ton of us that are fans of both.. but we all know a few Radiohead fans that hate everything about Coldplay.

 

And what's weird is ..this seems to be one of the first collection of songs that were assembled much like a Radiohead album- with some songs

dug way from the past.

 

I'm glad they waited.. it did have a more organic MX sound to it on the video. I love the new bass-y Coldplay. Coldplay with teeth.. kinda thing.

 

Lol, I think a lot of the Radiohead fans that aren't Coldplay fans think that way because they think that Coldplay imitated them. As we've seen in their recent albums, that isn't true. Pre-Parachutes Coldplay definitely did, and let's admit. Such a Rush sounds like an unreleased Radiohead song, even though it's good. A lot of Coldplay from that era did, and that sort of changed when they started incorporating the really dense ambient influence. Come time Parachutes, they seemed to discard that sound (unfortunately, because that sound was so great... I'm glad they sort of revisited it in a way on AICTAIY (yay finally starting to get a hang of typing that quickly :p) ) Parachutes was like it in some way, and so was AROBTTH. But it was still undeniably their own sound, and Coldplay started from there moving on and on in their own direction after that. I think it sounds most similar to some of the songs from The Bends as that's my favorite Radiohead album. Although, Radiohead never did use a lot of piano, and that's what featured on AROBTTH. Parachutes was calmer than a lot of Radiohead. Coldplay's sound was definitely influenced by songs like High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees,, Karma Police, No Surprises, etc. but it certainly wasn't a straight copy like some seem to think. Fast forward to Viva, and they seemed to develop their own unique sound altogether. Coldplay from then on wasn't really like Radiohead at all, although I can imagine fans of Radiohead wouldn't like Newplay anyway for it's pop influence. However, A L I E N S sounds a lot like Radiohead, perhaps Coldplay's most similar song to Radiohead's post-OK Computer days. I think that in a way you could get them to enjoy it but they still probably wouldn't like Coldplay if they didn't like them because they think Coldplay copied them.

 

About the songs that they put on this album that was from the past, I think this is actually the only one. It's possible they've saved some other songs, but there's no evidence other than this thus far. But Coldplay are starting to head in that direction of digging up old songs and using them for the new album. Which I'm completely fine with, and it really speeds things up, but it's kind of sad when you know that this isn't really Coldplay trying something new. In a way it is, because as you mentioned the snippet heard in the documentary sounds more organic (to me it sounds more like organic Viva vibe though) and now it sounds more electronic, so it does sound more like something between Viva and Mylo more than anything, although the song is really unique and doesn't sound like anything they've done before in another way, which I'm glad for...

Even though this is based off an old song, I still think Coldplay are interested in moving towards a more creative and unique direction now more than ever, because if that wasn't so then they wouldn't have dug this up, and they wouldn't have made the new songs that are unique.

What'd be cool is if we got to hear a bunch of their unreelased songs. Radiohead started doing that recently, and I hope Coldplay does it too, because hearing unreleased gems from the past is so great, and it'd be exciting especially for the Oldplayers, but really for everyone!

 

 

Lol I expected those right winged nationalist hate comments to pop up and they're making me love the song more. It's just something you gotta expect especially with the political climates in the US and Europe and other parts of the world. The award for contributing to a mass political controversy goes to COLDPLAY.

 

In the political side of things,

I do agree that not all refugees are good people, there have to be some baddies here and there, but I don't think that should negate the people that have lost their families and/or are just looking for help.

 

Exactly, and the problem is some people don't see that it's just some baddies here and there. They shouldn't be ruining it for everyone. They can get caught anyway. Unfortunately terrorist attacks can happen, but anyone can do that, not just members of a particular race. Most refugees are poor and innocent, and they're getting blocked out of some countries because they're afraid the refugees are terrorists. That's why I'm so proud of Canada because they're actually letting them in and rightfully so. No, not everyone's gonna be perfect, but you can't block off everyone.

 

[Harondor]

I just listened to Moving To Mars and Aliens back to back, they're a perfect match. It would have been interesting if Mylo Xyloto took this direction (for those who don't know, Aliens came about in the early MX sessions).

 

For me not including MTM in MX was a sacrilege lol but I do understand the band's decision because it's very different from the other songs. If ALIENS was finished before MX release I'm sure it wouldn't have been included neither.

[lennyrott1]

I really love this song, have been listening to it a lot in the past few days and I think in the meantime it has even surpassed my love for Hypnotised, making it my favorite Coldplay release in a long time. So I have been asking myself why I love this song so much. A lot of people here have said that it sounds like a song from the MX Era, but it doesn't sound like that to me, although it originates from the MX recording sessions, of course.

 

I know the song is about refugees and I love the message it sends, but if you don't think about it from that angle for a second, I think the lyrics are generally very relatable to other situations of insecurity, uncertainty and alienation that we may feel in our lives, and it thus thematically follows up on the X&Y Era. The space sounds theme that runs throughout and the melancholic melody add to the feeling that this could be something out of the X&Y Era (which a touch of Viva experimentalism).

 

What do you think ?

 

You have essentially summed up everything I was thinking. There is no doubt this was an MX Era B-side (Alien Radio most likely) based on all the evidence we have. That said, the strings and Jonny's shrieking guitar are very much X&Y. I think that Coldplay has always had a fascination with spacey music, and X&Y did it well with Low, What If, Twisted Logic--all kind of feel like Space Symphonies (note that Eno produced Low, and the guitar on there is just like ALIENS). Then with MX I feel like they had another space-concept with Moving to Mars that never came to fruition. I'd love them to make a space ambient album with Eno. Really it was Eno, Simpson and Dravs that make this song so good, pushing Coldplay to do their best.

 

But really, its the story for me. One could criticize some of the melody, but the story is incredible and so moving when you think about our current global refugee crisis. The lines "Watching my life--on the skyline--crossing my eyes--all a lifetime" really really effected me more than a Coldplay song in, well, forever.

 

I was reluctant to say it at first, but this is one of my fave Coldplay songs ever. The production is perfect, the chorus epic and gorgeous, the meaning and purpose powerful. I have high hopes for Miracles Someone Special, based on the live performance I like it way more than I thought I would, but ALIENS will undoubtedly be THE highlight of the AHFOD era, if we can call it that.

[ColdplayingfromKansas]

There is no doubt this was an MX Era B-side (Alien Radio most likely) based on all the evidence we have.

 

Oh man, I know we all tend to jump the gun a little on trying to say "this song is actually X song that we've known about for years," particularly for the unreleased MX songs, but I think you're absolutely right. I'd forgotten all about Alien Radio.

 

If it's true, I wish they'd kept the old title. Loved that title :p

 

 

 

Now give us Bloodless Revolution

 

 

[nvdmm]

for the most part, people that view coldplay videos are fans. so usually the comments are relevant to the music/band. but this is such a politically divisive topic. like someone mentioned before, i wish people would look at this morally or humanely, putting politics aside, but that is not the case. so people made this song a political commentary and that brought in the political ugliness of the internet, along with a lot of non-fans. and looks like the bashers are the ones that are being the loudest, which happens. honestly, if you spend time reading any political commentary from different groups, hope for humanity goes out the window.

 

it's too bad that such a musically good song is getting this treatment.

I'm surprised people are surprised. Coldplay's fan base aren't a niche group of people anymore. Not since 2006. When you turn into a boyband act you're already knees deep in attracting the larger audience who naturally vary vastly in intelligence and education levels.

 

We should also accept that those hateful comments perfectly represent the western civilization at this moment in time. We can be sure they are the voice of the majority. I have not yet seen one comment on the video trying to explain why refugees are fleeing their homes and what countries/governments whose people vote them in are responsible. Ignorance is not a bliss!

 

People's voices have been heard in a democratic process throughout the west and we all have to deal with it. The US/UK/Austria/Netherlands are just the beginning. There'll come a day when Hitler will look like a playground bully.

Now give us Bloodless Revolution

That song would have been amazing. If that whole batch of songs weren't leaked we might have heard a final version of Bloodless Revolution one day!

[MidnightSpies]

Aliens is brilliant. Was very surprised that they released this. I love Hypnotised and All I can, but this is something else. Absolutely best song since the Viva album. It keeps on going up in my favorite (Coldplay) songs list. We need more music like this!!

edit: Actually I find it one of their best songs ever, top 10 :)

[Lambrex]

I'm surprised people are surprised. Coldplay's fan base aren't a niche group of people anymore. Not since 2006. When you turn into a boyband act you're already knees deep in attracting the larger audience who naturally vary vastly in intelligence and education levels.

 

We should also accept that those hateful comments perfectly represent the western civilization at this moment in time. We can be sure they are the voice of the majority. I have not yet seen one comment on the video trying to explain why refugees are fleeing their homes and what countries/governments whose people vote them in are responsible. Ignorance is not a bliss!

 

People's voices have been heard in a democratic process throughout the west and we all have to deal with it. The US/UK/Austria/Netherlands are just the beginning. There'll come a day when Hitler will look like a playground bully.

 

That song would have been amazing. If that whole batch of songs weren't leaked we might have heard a final version of Bloodless Revolution one day!

 

Not sure I agree with that statement about western society.. At least in the UK it appears the tide is turning to a much more welcoming and loving mood as young people begin to rise up, as the band encourage them to do by the way. In the circle of generations, it will be the youth who turn it around, and its songs like this, and bands like Coldplay who help inspire that change.

[Captain Crieff]

I agree @Lambrex, I mean maybe I'm just too optimistic but haters are always louder than "the silent majority", especially on social media. I also think a lot of people are just uninformed and blame the reasons why they're frustrated on the wrong people, they're not necessarily horrible people.

 

Edit: also they can't be the majority, the racist parties didn't win in Austria and The Netherlands (and Trump didn't win the popular vote). They still got way too many votes obviously but I believe there are still more good people than bad (...though on some days I read too many facebook comments and start to believe the opposite)

[prospekt46]

So in the realm of space related songs they've made how does it stack up? My personal favorite is X&Y.

[ColdplayingfromKansas]

So in the realm of space related songs they've made how does it stack up? My personal favorite is X&Y.

 

I guess it depends on what you mean by "space related songs" lol. Here's my top four:

 

1. White Shadows

2. A L I E N S

3. Talk

4. Moving to Mars

 

 

 

And favorite Coldplay songs overall:

 

1. A Rush of Blood to the Head

2. Strawberry Swing

3. White Shadows

4. Prospekt's March/Poppyfields

5. A L I E N S

6. Violet Hill

7. Clocks

8. Up&Up (live)

9. Yes

10. Animals

 

 

 

[MC01Coldplay]

Is ma'am really pronounced like "mom" in the UK? cause that's been bothering me since the first time I heard this song.

 

I just realized while typing this it was probably used to force the rhyme but I'm still curious

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[coldplaykb]

Is ma'am really pronounced like "mom" in the UK? cause that's been bothering me since the first time I heard this song.

 

I just realized while typing this it was probably used to force the rhyme but I'm still curious

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was wondering the same thing, so you're not alone

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Coldplaying mobile app

[AmyEverdeen]

I was wondering the same thing, so you're not alone

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Coldplaying mobile app

 

 

I think it is actually pronounced that way, at least in the UK in the past, but no one really says that anymore (at least from what I've seen/heard)

[coldplaykb]

I think it is actually pronounced that way, at least in the UK in the past, but no one really says that anymore (at least from what I've seen/heard)

Cool, thanks for the info!

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Coldplaying mobile app

[coldplayisawesome]

Is ma'am really pronounced like "mom" in the UK? cause that's been bothering me since the first time I heard this song.

 

I just realized while typing this it was probably used to force the rhyme but I'm still curious

 

i think so, probably comes from french pronunciation for madame, like "muh-dom" instead of our "mad-um" :P

[yoyo2000]

Tell your leader

Sir or ma'am

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Coldplaying mobile app

[AMDB9]

"Watching your life on the skyline" reminds me of the tour date teasers.

[ColdplayingfromKansas]

 

Tell your leader

Sir or ma'am

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Coldplaying mobile app

 

 

Yeah. There's been a couple times when I was watching some British show or another and they address the Queen as "ma'am" but it sounded like "mom" and I was like, "You guys call your Queen mom?" :P Just a different pronunciation that's developed (probably on the American English side). Similar to "al-oo-min-um" versus "al-oo-min-ee-um"

[jc90]

The head security guard at my hospital is british. When he addresses our CEO, he refers to her as ma'am and it does sound like mom.

[jjmor95]

This song really took me by surprise, it's amazing. Such a powerful message as well.

[coldplayisawesome]

what does everyone think of the Markus Dravs Remix? :D

 

[MEDIA=spotify]path=track%2F5XQGVOIgKyXhcv9TrQQAH0[/MEDIA]

Mobile Link: https://open.spotify.com/track/5XQGVOIgKyXhcv9TrQQAH0

[Tarkovsky2]

Can someone upload marcus dravs remix because i cant find it? Thanks