lennyrott1

It's hard to define what good production is & there's a conversation about subjectivity or whatever, but for me MOTS will likely go on to be Coldplay's best produced "pop album" based on what we've heard so far, so that is including it in league with Ghost Stories, AHFOD & MX. And before I get any hate, I wanna make it clear I love these albums/era overall. For me a pop album is about sounding "clean" to make the melodies and catchy choruses hit harder. MX is an oddball because it had some clean sounding moments that miss the mark for me (UFO, Up In Flames) but they still had Eno giving the album a lot of color, guitars, and texture. Ghost Stories on the other hand feels somewhat sterile and mixed too quietly. It's almost too watery, if that makes sense. And AHFOD had some great produced moments, but some songs felt like they either needed a bit more or a bit less (AHFOD, Fun, Army of One). Perhaps we owe this to Stargate. Now with MOTS, it's sounding really clean but also punchy. The synths on HP & MU hit hard and Chris's vocals sound great. On top of that, Jonny's minimal pop guitar, the basslines, and drums sound better mixed than they have for a long time in my opinion. The layering on Human Heart is heavenly and huge, and Coloratura is just a masterpiece from start to finish with such incredible production value. And what we've heard from POTP seems like a good mix of clean & catchy presentation without giving up the instruments. It seems like they're doing a good job carrying over some of the styles and lessons of Everyday Life but in a pop music/love song package. So I'm so far liking Max Martin. The songwriting? That's another story.

Now that everything is out (though I suspect other remixes will come) here are general thoughts. Putting in spoilers for length:

XMTS should have been a b-side imo. I think it gets a bad rap as well. It's undeniably catchy and shows the band's production talents. My main issue is the bass synths sound almost exactly like Swimming Pools by Kendrick Lamar and the song itself sandwiched between Army of One and Amazing Day is a weird transition. Coldplay usually is SO good at putting together thoughtful tracklists. I'm curious how MOTS is gonna flow and if there's MOTS II and MOTS III, how they will all tie together into a larger listening experience.

Having had the leak for a few months now, I wasn't that excited for this to drop but the new snippet sounds significantly better mastered/mixed. Now I'm really excited because I'm wondering if there's other big changes on vocals or maybe some instruments on this final studio version. I do think this will be a better-received song than HP. Of course some folks won't like this style or the feature, but as a lover of good pop music I think it's fun. Spoiler Thoughts/Questions:

Following up here to agree & relate with some recent posts. As a fan for like 17+ years now, it really took the AHFOD era to come to terms with the fact Coldplay will forevermore release a hodge-podge of genres, which will occasionally include stunning moments like Coloratura, Trouble In Town, and Arabesque -- tracks almost every fan can agree are next level in songwriting, production and artistry. I too feel a bit of pain knowing they are capable of making music that would potentially be 10/10 classic level for most critics, but they can't help but put out some bad lyrics and corny choruses on other songs. TLDR below about my thoughts of MOTS from an Oldplayer's perspective following Coloratura.

It's interesting because closing tracks tend to be the critical statement for so many Coldplay albums and tours. Indeed they performed O, DAAHF, Up&Up, Amsterdam, Everything's Not Lost on those respective tours. But Twisted Logic and Up With The Birds were exceptions here.... I think Coloratura is doable but it would be more of an immersive performance vs played 100% live. Unless Coldplay finally decides to tour with extra musicians to play strings, glockenspiel, extra keyboards, synths etc, which I don't think will happen. I could see them doing the opening of the song on piano and back track with lasers, then they play the middle of the song live, then move on to another Xyloband, graphics, smoke, and laser section during the glockenspiel/strings around 6-minutes before launching into Jonny's solo and ending the song. But who knows... we could have MOTS Vol. 2 by the time a tour comes around, and by then there may be another album closing track they could perform for this era, and Coloratura by then will simply be a middle transition track between different albums.

Do you all think that this song will end up being Life Is Beautiful or will it be♾️?? Or will it be neither? What's confusing is the snippet both have elements of Life Is Beautiful.

^Love that optimism and thanks for sharing! I too will hope for this. There's at least got to be a chorus on the song and I also suspect we'll get some sort of solo from Jonny! I also really, really hope that it's a crazy technical solo like Up&Up, HLH or even Major Minus which is just really intense and distorted. And even if I don't love it, the flip side is that it's cool Coldplay is delivering a rock song in 2021 and trying a new vibe on. Who knows, maybe it'll be one of the top tracks!

POTP! It's a weird coincidence. I guess it's possible the melody or something from WOTW/POTP gets resused? We'll see. It's a weird song title. This tracks is probably the one I feel most nervous about based on the snippet. Full disclaimer, I'm a huge fan of heavy rock music -- including metal, punk, hardcore, etc. I also just love general indie rock music that incorporates lots of guitar effects and solos and easy-going vibes. This style of rock however, the Muse-esque turn-up-the-fuzz and play a repetitive pompous rhythm is not my jam. Now Muse has some real barn-burners and I think that band has usually been able to sell their over-the-top style of rock, especially on their last album. I just worry Coldplay is not the right fit and it might feel like they are doing a bad impression. It already sounds a little bit like an ad for Applebees, or a car commercial, or a bud light commercial that gets stuck in your head purely because its very repetitive.

Good research all. Yeah I'm pretty thoroughly convinced that we WILL get multiple albums/releases over the next year. It's definitely true that they've used Vol. 1 before inaccurately, and I'd include Global Citizen EP Vol. 1 by Los Unidades in that grouping. That said, it just makes sense for these reasons: The band had to delay releases/tour during the pandemic, so they have more time in studio if they want it. Releasing MORE music is a big trend right now amongst popular artist (i.e. Taylor Swift with Evermore and Folklore). We know Coldplay has TONS of unreleased tracks from past eras to rework. Having a second, third volume allows the band to stretch out this era as long as they want (maybe years) so they can incorporate it into their touring when that's safe and environmentally friendly. The concept of "Spheres" as planets as unique songs can get stretched a long way. Chris has always said that they like to have a concept or a name and move from there. But when they're done with an album, they're done. Is it possible that when Chris said they've finished something recently, that it's actually all three volumes? Or maybe just the two volumes?

What's so interesting about Coldplay throughout their career is how songs can have a total different feel with production and mixing. Coloratura is a next-level musical engineering experience that feels 10x better put together than Higher Power and the leaked MU. Sometimes music just has such a professional, rich sound to it that just feels classic. The production on this song reminds me quite a bit of Random Access Memories, and given how there's gonna be some dancy songs on the record that might be a good comparison album, given how Coldplay often will give big pop songs, then big rock songs, then big prog songs. Yeah I'm just so blown away. Right now it's gonna be the Arabesque of MOTS most likely -- a standout track that will be a fan favorite forever. But boy I hope they revisit Coloratura in some capacity on the next volumes.

My profile picture finally has paid off. I don't know y'all this is just too much to take right now. TLDR: My love for this song couldn't be more. I had accepted that Everyday Life might be one of the last moments this band would stay within my music taste, but I never expected this. It's absurdly incredible, it's everything that the band has worked to achieve and in many ways it feels like their singular magnum opus, so far. Longer winding reaction, just like the song:

For me a top song that has basically three phases is Sicko Mode by Travis Scott and Drake. So excited to hear what the band does with 10 minutes!

I'm just bombing this thread rn, but I have a weird theory that I'm curious what folks think. So it appears the track listing includes several "interlude" type tracks similar to MX. Artistically, I like interludes because they help pad songs out and give a transition from big exciting songs to quieter songs (i.e. Us Against the World into MMIX into ETIAW). The length of interludes also helps Coldplay fine-tune album length to get that 42 minute mark. HOWEVER -- I couldn't help but notice that it's odd how short some of them are on MOTS when there's also a 10 minute song! My theory is Coldplay had the songs and went to the label and said "we want a 10 minute outro" and the label said "well, that's not good for streaming revenues, my guys," so Coldplay says "okay, maybe we can compromise?" so the label goes -- "okay, you keep the 10 minute song, but we want some short tracks that can be streamed quickly to get a lot of plays."

Putting my response in spoiler.

Sorry folks who are feeling MU is being spoiled. I'm gonna put my thoughts under spoilers and would ask others reply like that too.

Wow Colotura is gonna have a lot on it's plate! That's nearly a quarter of the album's run time, so it has a lot riding on it being good. Based on the snippets tho, it sounds absolutely incredible, almost like something Elton John would do but then with some epic Daft-Punk-Random-Access-Memories style spacey orchestral instrumentation. SO EXCITED TO HEAR IT

My impression of the teaser! Putting spoiler tag in case folks don't want to know more about it.

Awesome! So recent news taken together indicates we'll likely get a new single by the end of the month & that the Race may show up in some form soon! Was just listening to Life Is Beautiful and thinking of how much of a great mix between rock & pop. Let's lobby them to release that next ?

I absolutely loved Taylor Swift's last two albums and how she wasn't afraid to just put all those songs out there & actually try some experimental (for her) sounds and collabs. I believe it's worth looking at her approach as a potential blue print for other big name artists. That said... I highly doubt MOTS is going to be more than one album, but that'd be amazing. The "three parts" likely refers to three music videos/singles or three EP's that structure the album & its story. I like the EP theory because it lends itself to how modern music is released for streaming services in chunks to maximize streams & continue engagement in a crowded media space. New music has to drop soon, right?

The BTS song must drop soon. We're nearing two months of Higher Power and at least in the U.S. the song isn't charting anymore and I haven't heard it on any radio stations. Dropping a huge BTS track (especially if it's really, really good) could help get Higher Power back on people's radar and potentially rocket Coldplay to #1 in preparation for an album announcement. Another possibility is this "Kubik" teasing is going to be another single release that isn't BTS to stave us over for a bit.

Acoustic Review TLDR: Honestly, I'm kinda disappointed at the lack of a new performance & overall production. I really appreciate the band giving us a version of the song that has some instrumental call backs to Oldplay, but I wish they delivered a better recording that added some unique flavor to this acoustic version (think strings from LiJ, more choir vocals on COTW NPR). I'll overall forget this probably like I did the Princess of China acoustic version, which feels super similar to what we got here 10 years later.

^This. Exactly this. Production is one thing, but songwriting is another. My issue with Newplay isn't necessarily that Jonny's guitar or Guy's is sometimes mixed poorly (though that is a problem), it's mostly that some songs just aren't as sharply written or as catchy as Oldplay. Higher Power is overall a well written song with fun, clean production. But does it feel as cinematic as Paradise? Or as danceable as AOAL? Or as catchy as Magic? Or as energetic and raw as Orphans? Not in my opinon. Only time will tell on how MOTS shapes out -- I doubt it will be 100% pop songs, but the ratio could be bigger than ever. Or maybe not! I was expecting a way poppier AHFOD with Stargate and was super angry about that back in 2015, but in hindsight the percussion and atmosphere on that album is pretty dang nice sounding and it gave us some tunes Oldplayers can love -- Birds, Amazing Day, Up&Up. Chris also said in interviews that this is a new thing for Max to be working with a band like Coldplay, so I don't think we can really predict the final sound. With Higher Power, I'm torn. It seems so far like the song is kind of flopping the U.S. and I agree that it's kind of a 50/50 between rock and pop, just like a lot of AHFOD and GS. I simultaneously feel bad for the band if Higher Power is their huge flagship for this era and it's their least successful single, but also I hope that it is their flagship and that means other songs will be more weird & spacey. Chris did say they were trying to imagine what alien music sounds like, and so far it just sounds like Coldplay lol.

Couple things have stood out over the past few days : 1. Chris' discussion of Max Martin seems to suggest the album will be very poppy, which I think we already were expecting. He basically said that Max is helping members of the band realize they can make songs that are more pop. Hard to know if he was talking about Higher Power or this whole era. 2. The band is still recording? Chris said he had a song for Max Martin just the other day, and it seems like they're doing their interviews from the same building where they could be wrapping up the record. So maybe MOTS wasn't finished around the same time as EL like some of us predicted. Or maybe it was and they've completely changed it? 3. Jonny mentioned during the Twitter Q&A that he's loving the Meris Enzo guitar pedal. It can create some synth sounds that are unrecognizable as guitar, so this suggests more synth sounds will be present on the album -- or more songs where there isn't traditional Coldplay guitar sounds.

Honestly I'd love it if GaGa was featured on a song and it became apparent that Chromatica exists in the same universe. It would be like the Coldplay Extended Universe, featuring Chromatic, Silencia, and Kaotica.