Reflektor!

MARRIED TO: 1. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends LOVE: 2. A Rush of Blood to the Head 3. Mylo Xyloto 4. Ghost Stories LIKE: 5. A Head Full of Dreams 6. Everyday Life 7. X&Y 8. Parachutes DISLIKE: 9. Music of the Spheres (Vol. I)

Ranked: 1. Coloratura (10/10) - 'Nuff said, gorgeous music. 2. Beautiful (8/10) - I really enjoy this, so strange and pretty. 3. Humankind (7/10) - Fun! Catchy! 4. Human Heart (7/10) - Pretty ballad, nice song. 5. Higher Power (7/10) - Good chorus, great verses, lazy in the middle-eight. 6. People of the Pride (6/10) - Epic in some parts, cringe in others 7. My Universe (6/10) - Same. 8. Infinity Sign (6/10) - Yeah, it's nice. 9. All the Interludes - (5/10) - Meh. 10. Let Somebody Go (4/10) - Boooooring. Overall, it's... fine. It's there. It's colourful and varied, but incohesive and slight. There's still a lot of creativity in this band, but they need an Eno figure to bring it back out of them again. Doesn't touch Everyday Life.

BRING BACK BRIAN ENO.

The rap verse is a strong moment in the track, for sure - provides dynamics, the flow is as butter-smooth as BTS' rapping tends to be, and the way the three rappers harmonise with themselves is instantly catchy. There's a lot of reasons why this works better than Higher Power - more varied, more intense, the bridge is 100x better, Chris' vocals are more impassioned. Even the chorus hits better than Higher Power's did. Strong pop song, already showered in praise from popheads.

Overall, a 7.5/10 for me. It's a complete and vibrant pop song that will smash the radio and make stadiums explode - not one bit of it isn't instantly melodic, from the verse to the bridge to the hook to the outro. My main issues are that the sound can veer a bit overly-synthetic in places and that horrible, tacky robot voice is ugly as fuck. But it gets the job done, and it's impressive how naturally the band can fit in with the likes of BTS when they originated in such different worlds. Works better than Higher Power, doesn't touch Coloratura. We're getting one hell of a variety of sounds, though.

It's a bop.

I'm hyped for this. BTS are one of the most fun and charismatic pop outfits in the world, a perfect fit for the sounds Coldplay love to show on their more joyous chart-pop tracks. Chorus has hit written all over it, and that outro bops too. Production sounds rich and layered. It won't be one of the band's classics, of course, but it should be a fun pop tune. We know two more art-y and emotional tracks will be on the album, and the trailer showed off some more abrasive sounds too. I, for one, am loving this post-AHFOD era of the band, pure eclecticism and freedom. I know their best albums are behind them, but that's the case for hundreds of artists who are still worth listening to. I'm grateful for all the masterpieces, and now I'm here for the era of just seeing where the inspiration takes them. This one sounds fun.

I can understand why don't want to add much Everyday Life to any new shows. There is a bit of a tonal contrast from going from bright, love-drunk, alien, silly but brilliant pop music to rock tunes about real-life police violence. I think some tunes could be mixed in, though - Church, BrokEn, Orphans, Cry Cry Cry, Champion of the World, the title track. There's a weight that comes to making songs like Trouble in Town or Daddy. I can see why they'd want to tread carefully about playing them amongst the likes of Higher Power.

Well, I'm loving it. Sure, if you compare it to Arabesque or Violet Hill, it's nowhere near as adventurous or deep, but why would you? That's not what this is trying to be. It's a nocturnal, catchy, love-drunk pop song. And it's a good one. At this stage I'm just accepting that Coldplay have given me so much of my all-time favourite music, they're entitled to go where their hearts lead. Personally, yeah, I'd prefer more Viva and Everyday Life vibes. But they want to do 80's synthwave dance? Go for it. With a song as rich, catchy, vibrant, and fun as this, I'm on-board. Excited for more journeys into the inter-galactic pop universe this year. Just take the songs for what they are, and you might enjoy them a lot more.

People saying Chris looks old, haggard, couldn't manage a tour... Bob Dylan has looked like an extra from Nightmare on Elm Street for over a decade now, hasn't stopped him bringing his genius to all four corners of the globe. And Chris looks fine for a guy in his 40s. He looks like...a guy in his 40s. He's not Mr Burns just because he doesn't look like he did in The Scientist video anymore.

1. LP9 2. LP10 3. Viva 4. A Rush of Blood 5. LP11 6. Mylo Xyloto 7. Parachutes 8. Everyday Life 9. LP12 10. Ghost Stories 11. X&Y 12. A Head Full of Dreams 13. LP13 Man, LP9 really was something.

Does anyone have a translation of that Dutch review?

This is the one that has me hyped. Ominous title, explicit lyrics, on the seemingly experimental sound of the record, worthy of a pre-album preview... Watch it end up being an interlude.

Ten years in the making...I think we're gonna get a lot of stuff that was too different or political to go on other post-Mylo albums.

Eno-Coldplay from 2007-2012 was better than Oldplay already, for me. And these singles are right back into those art-pop vibes.