I ran away

That would be this one (which was also liked by Coldplay and liked/recipt confirmed by someone from the Glastonbury team on Twitter!)

Yeah I feel just the same! The next weeks are about to be stressful and distracting with so many things happening - which is awesome, but positive stress in the end is also stress ?

I'm so thrilled right now because I made an own flag (apart from initiating the Coldplay Twitter flag project with the names of over 300 Coldplayers on it...but that's a different story) and sent it to Glastonbury in the hopes it might be displayed despite my limited drawing talents, and in the meantime not only did Coldplay like it on Twitter, but it is also among the flags that Emily Eavis posted on her Instagram page today!

I hope not... As for the leak discussion, i honestly expect it to leak very soon because that's just how things are - CDs get shipped to retailers and stores and someone somewhere opens one and uploads the song. It's virtually impossible to stop a physical (not digital-only) release from a high enough profile artist from leaking beforehand nowadays. The label is very serious about it, but they were equally serious about the most highly anticipated album of 2005 not leaking beforehand, to the point where journalists were only allowed to listen and review at the label's headquarters without any files leaving the building and the acetates being made under the fake band name "The Fir Trees"...but X&Y still leaked like a week beforehand. And this I guess is a great point to remind everyone that links to leaks are not permitted on this forum.

Everything is a question of money. If the band are really committed to this and willing to invest their own money/accept lower personal profit cuts, it would be possible.

They actually want to make their tours better than carbon-neutral, they wanna make them have a beneficial impact. I'm curious as to how they will achieve this...

Nah that's an old picture, from the EL era.

This! Yes, i also hope that at least some songs on LP9 will have X&Y vibes. I hope they explore space rock with ethereal ambient/synth sounds.

I think the pre-chorus lyrics sound as they do because they are doubled by backing vocals of the For Love choir (in brackets). As for the bridge, I don't know. So yeah, overall the lyrics aren't great, but we'll have to wait see how they work within the context of the music.

Yeah same...

I see your point, and I totally agree about how our attention span is steadily decreasing, it's something I've noticed as well. I would call a song like BL a huge commercial success, but still in no way a masterpiece just because it ticks all these boxes though. It's a matter of definition. I see no value in managing to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And to be honest i would also blame artists who cater to this lowest common denominator - they are a big part of this supply and demand chain for, let's call it, generic music. And yet a well-composed, original-sounding song with a great melody can be a massive hit as well - take Viva la Vida for example. You can become a major commercially successful artist on the back of great compositions, like Coldplay. I have a feeling if you create consistently great artistic value, it will eventually come through and be successful. But most people don't and look for the easy way, which is not surprising.

Don't worry it was just an offhand comment I made in response to the Higher Power snippet. I just wanted to dust off this thread for possible discussions about Coldplay's older sound, like during the AHFOD and EL eras!

Take On Me is leagues better though. The melody, the chorus, everything.

You spilled the truth. I seriously don't get the hype about The Weeknd in general. Have you listened to his lyrics? It's sad that people stream and support such a misogynist artist. Absolutely agree with that!

So...

In this snippet: Unoriginal melody, unoriginal singing, unoriginal sound. Hope the full song will be better.

Yes, same. On the one hand I'm hyped. On the other hand my Oldplayer heart bleeds.

AAAAH thanks Sonny!! So exciting, although sadly this means we will have to wait longer than anticipated!

I'm really torn on what to think about Higher Power. On the one hand I'm irrationally excited like never before for this new era. The buildup and the space and codebreaking themes and colour schemes etc are amazing, and the possibility all this could be tied in with the song being played from the ISS or something...!! On the other hand, every rational consideration tells me that musically, this won't be something I like. The MX era is my least favourite era, it's the one album and era I have least been able to connect to. And everything points to HP being a massive pop single, produced by a massive pop producer. The thought of a Coldplay song with a long list of songwriters that include Max Martin is also something that at least my own Oldplayer self six years ago would have turned up their nose at ? I would still call myself an Oldplayer overall, but Kaleidoscope EP and then of course Everyday Life have shown me that the guys still very much have the ability to create music that is just as beautiful and magnificent as in their early days. I think Kaleidoscope EP was a terrific EP that blended old Coldplay and pop Coldplay in a great way and had a great Stargate-free production, it should have been what AHFOD should have sounded like. And Everyday Life was this masterpiece recalling Viva and AROBTTH/Parachutes atmospheres and that was full of collaborations, but all of these collaborations were done right. I also recently thought, with Everyday Life, the former Wedding Album that was meant to be the successor to Viva, the band made - saying it in a very simplified manner now - a kind of Viva 2.0 (think Arabesque etc). Now everything points them to making a kind of MX 2.0 and the rational part of me is worried because MX wasn't my thing, and another part is wondering whatever would come after. A part of me also wonders if they have fallen into a kind of dichotomy ever since the completion of the first three albums and whether it will stay that way: Viva and MX GS and AHFOD EL (Viva 2.0) and MOTS (MX 2.0) LP10 and LP11?? Anyway, I think Coldplay have gotten much much better again since 2017, so I'm not nearly as pessimistic on their output as I was six years ago. Six years ago also this forum was full of clashes between "Oldplayers" and "Newplayers", and I'm so glad we have moved past that and everything has become peaceful. And with Everyday Life having been such a great gift to Oldplayers, I think we all can live with MOTS being more poppy ?

I very much doubt that! The poppy is a British symbol for war remembrance. If you notice, around Remembrance Day people in Britain wear a poppy to commemorate those who died in the world wars. The boys have also done so in the past, when they had public appearances on that day. The poppy is also referenced in All Your Friends, by the way.

This guy is probably fuming right now

That't the image I meant, they were all in Sweden. The pic was not at Max Martin's studio but at Benny Andersson's (from ABBA)...who knows who they collaborate with. So has someone compared voices and checked if either Max Martin or Benny Andersson would fit with the Swedish meatball recipe voice?

Just my opinion, but I think it's pretty evident this stands for COLDPLAY HIGHER POWER. I like your idea but I don't think there is a hidden meaning to that, or a second anagram.

All of Coldplay was in Sweden, remember that bathroom tile or something in the Swedish studio where they signed their names? So yeah I do think it could reference Max Martin...

This one is outdated - find the latest one in this amazing Google Document where fans compiled all the info about Alien Radio: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fpj1-mEXKxeQpm5GBrtL8wdIR4bDHOGRVCOsOxFoBvs/edit