lennyrott1

Yeah I think I'm expecting a AHFOD-type era in terms of pop/alternative balance. Higher Power may end up being a mid-album track like AOAL, Human Heart might be in the middle as well. It sounds like MOTS is gonna open up the album and in your left ear, you can hear a slow low-frequency build up that will likely transition into the first track. I know some folks think that it's HP -- but I feel like that transition isn't very clean sounding. I suspect a different opening track. I then think we'll get at least 2 more big pop singles featuring some big artists, and then two or three more alternative songs, maybe a big space rock outro like Up&Up.

that's awesome @MosesTheMarshmallow!!! I'll check y'all out. And yes @Coeurlithat's helpful! It took me a super long time to understand what the heck AHFOD was about & I had no idea MX told a story until Coldplay said so. I guess I've been hoping for a while that if the band did a "concept album" that the concept would be really apparent and clear. So now we have this "planet" concept and space, but it feels like it's going to another album where you kind of have to do your homework and piece to the loose/general themes together to get it. I guess I was hoping for more than "you're a star, universe, moon, color" type lyrics. I can already see the interviews when MOTS is released an someone asks "so what's the concept behind the album" and Chris says, "well we like space, and so we wrote a bunch of songs but we think of them as planets because they exist on their own but also are connected, you know what I mean. So the planets are the spheres and this is the music of those planets." And the interviewer is like "wow yeah brilliant," even though they have no idea what Chris is talking about lol.

I think we all know that MOTS will be an album, but I wonder how they will release music during this era. Gorillaz for example just did that "Song Machine" series where they collaborated with a bunch of artists and released EP's that eventually were put into one album, or "season" like a TV show. There's also precedent for Coldplay releasing songs that don't make the next album (Atlas, Moving to Mars, Goldrush). I wonder if the MOTS era will have more to offer than just the singles and albums. At this point, HP (as Kaotica) and Human Heart, and the MOTS intro seem very likely for the album. But a possible BTS collab could be totally one off. I think it'd be cool if they did Planet EP's that have b-sides. So like a Kaotica EP featuring Higher Power & some alternative track. I doubt this will happen but we're in a weird holding pattern right now of knowing a lot but still open to big surprises. Alien Radio itself teased Higher Power, but all those audio clips and languages translated must add up to something greater? I mean Higher Power as far as I can tell has no discernable lyrical point other than "I've been feeling down, you picked me up." which has nothing to do with Space, or Alice in Wonderland, or UFO's, or some of the other cool stories referenced on Alien Radio. Human Heart is the same. It's about boy and girl hearts and gender stereotypes. What's the theme here?

I'm not sold on the BTS collab yet. Why would the leak just say "Korean, Korean, Korean?" If was coming from an official source, it would be translated or written out. Also, BTS has been doing most of it's big recent singles in English, so I I'd imagine if they collabed with Coldplay it would be. We'll see. If it ends up being true, this era is shaping up to be quite poppy, which I think we anticipated. The question for me is whether they'll make room for some truly alternative tracks. If they have them, we sure haven't heard them. And before you say Human Heart is an alt track -- yes it's definitely different, but a duet with a simple, catchy repeated melody is still pop to me at its core. Higher Power was listed as an "alt" track from Coldplay's label? Idk gang. Starting to worry they're going full 100% pop.

Yeah basically agree with everything being said here. What feels most likely is we get some alternative tracks drawing from other 80's artists like Talking Heads, Depeche Mode & some maybe even influence from the Eno Eras (weird spacey noises, different time signatures, more Jonny). But we also know Max Martin could be a credited producer on every song, which likely means more clean production and pop sounds (Guy even said in a recent interview they're focusing on "studio techniques" which sounds like a pop production euphemism). On top of that, we have confirmed help from Jacob Collier (human heart) and maybe Jon Hopkins (MOTS intro). I suspect the album could unfurl like AHFOD -- we get one ore two pretty accessible singles and then one or two more alt-rock tracks and overall the album is a balance of pop and alternative, which has been the standard since 2011. It makes sense -- please old fans, new fans, and bring in a new audience, but I feel like MX and AHFOD aren't sonically consistent imo. Best case scenario (for my fandom) is the era outside Higher Power takes a left turn towards a much more spacey, ambient, progressive sound that falls more in to the AICTAIY, ALIENS, 42, X&Y, Midnight, O, MX interludes, HLH type Coldplay. Or maybe the album is super poppy and they release an alternative EP (Kaliediscope-esque) in 2022. Your guess is as good as mine.

Loving new Glastonbury songs, but they also make me a bit nervous that LP9 (MOTS) is just gonna be a loose concept like MX that doesn't fully live up to the "space album" hype. This is what I expected, but still I'm worried the album could be inconsistent.

I freaking love Boys of Summer -- the synths, guitar solos, driving beat, soaring vocals. It's funny because I LOVE 80's music. I have multiple playlists of synthpop & pop rock from the 80's -- New Order, Duran Duran, A-Ha, Don Henley, Eagles, Kate Bush, Bangles, Prince, Pet Shop Boys, Violent Femmes, Van Halen... The problem I think Coldplay runs into is that they want to make music inspired by those artists and genres but they often fall short of fully leaping into it & embracing it. There's a certain restraint the band has had over the past 10 years, where song ultimately quiet down Jonny's guitar, they focus on a consistent but not dynamic drum beat, they make the vocals and production extremely clean. For example -- ASFOS wanted to be this club thumping EDM sad banger... but it wasn't quite that nor was it quite a rock song. HFTW wants to be a dramatic party sing-along, and it teases horns and jangling percussion on the verse and bridge, but then pulls back on the chorus to deliver a very generic 4x4 beat with the instruments muddied so the vocals can take over. Similarly Higher Power has A LOT of good stuff going for it -- the 3-2-1 blast off of synths at the beginning, the complimentary backing vocals, the funky bass and understated verse delivery. But then, on the chorus, the band pulls back. There's no drums, there's no epic rhythm change up, there's not epic guitar or horns, and Chris sings in essentially the same vocal register (until the last chorus). Live, the song is much better but still lacks instrumental diversity imo. The song will likely grow on me over more time and within the album's context, but for now I'm a bit disappointed the band didn't move forward with its experimentation on EL on Higher Power. That's just my opinion -- I'm overall glad folks universally seem to like the song!

I did a weird thing. I listened to the song a million times the other week but then cold stopped for 5 days. By the fourth day, I was listening to a lot of other music and I basically had forgot the way the synths sounded and couldn't even hum the bass. I listened to the song again and I feel like with the initial excitement gone, my overall opinion has reduced a bit to putting HP on par with AOAL and HFTW, the weaker singles of Coldplay's 2010 catalogue. So like maybe a 6-7/10. I saw some folks on reddit talk about it, but it does feel like a really well produced, constructed song that's lacking in a bit of soul. Which is maybe ironic because it literally has a soul choir on backing vocals, which I really like. But I don't know... it has a great chorus, the verses are fun and catchy, but I also feel it's lacking a rawness that made previous singles like Orphans, Champion of the World, ASFOS, paradise, etc. really pop for me. Maybe it's Chris's delivery, maybe it's the fact that the beat really doesn't change from start to finish, but idk. I hope we get alt versions of this song that maybe include some more guitar, horns, or guest vocalists to spice it up.

@harrisonrules -- Check out Los Unidades and Global Citizen EP ! Lucky you, you're going to get some new Coldplay songs today! Coldplay released an EP under the pseudonym "los unidades" a few years back and it's actually really good. Voodoo is a track Chris talked about around the MX era that never got released until recently. It features production from Calvin Harris, backing vocals from Tiwa Savage, and a dope verse from Danny Ocean. I don't ever remember Car Kids being connected to Voodoo?

Yeah that's a good guess. I am also really hoping for a new song but based on the rumors that the album is coming towards the end of the year I am worried Higher Power is all we are gonna get for the next few months. Maybe a remix or feature will drop with BTS. I am really craving other songs in this era now and hopeful we will get some really rocky tracks.

I've been doing some thinking about scenarios for the upcoming era and why I'm feeling optimistic. The TLDR is I'm really excited the band is working with Max Martin b/c he feels like a producer that uplifts artists to new heights vs. takes over with his own sound. But still I am hoping MOTS is a sister album to EL in that it recycles old ideas from Coldplay's most creative eras, Viva & MX, which will give us some heavy rockers and interesting alien soundscapes. What expectations do you have? If MOTS just gonna be newplay on steroids? Oldplay? A mix?

On the topic of conventional albums... Chris says a lot of stuff and when he said that I took it with a grain of salt. Coldplay is worth hundreds of millions to their record label so big collabs and Tik Tok attempts like HP are inevitable. What he may mean is that we may never get an album that tried to stick to conventional formatting ever again. On Zane Lowe he spoke of how many artists drop tons of singles and lump them into a project because nowyou can explore so many genres. So perhaps Music of the Spheres conceptually is different planets and genres -- Kaotica has 80's music, some other planet has latin music,etc. Idk, but I agree we could see a Kaotica or Alien Radio EP this summer as they finish the upcoming album. Maybe it'll be a double record again? Who knows, but HP will probably be the only thing we have for the next month or two.

Yeah I don't think Higher Power is surprising. In fact I'm pretty sure back in 2018/2019 I was predicting they'd go or an 80's sound at some point based on Chris' obsession with Back to the Future and the way Life Is Beautiful sounded (rip). Not to toot my own horn though -- it's fairly predictable that Coldplay will follow trends (MX had an Arcade Fire vibe, GS felt very XX/mellow indie, ASFOS, SJLT). That said -- I do think we could still get some surprises on LP9 and I'm trying to stay optimistic. At this point in their career, we know they'll stick in some pop, saccharine songs like HP. Even Everyday Life, their serious, conceptual "opus," had Orphans and Cry Cry Cry. So maybe we get another few big pop singles a la Paradise or Princess of China, but i can live with that so long as the production is as good as Higher Power and so long as the album ALSO fulfills my itch for some weird Koatica stuff. I'm wanting Alien-sung songs, Jon Hopkins produced spacey meditations, heavy 80's guitar power chords, more choirs. I guess in summary I share some gripes with others about HP, especially the lack of Jonny which feels like a massive wasted opportunity for the sake of keeping the mix as clean and tik-tokable as possible. But GS still had the True Love solo, AHFOD still had Up&Up solos and an EP with some bigger solos. And I think HP has a truly unique and interesting intro and outro (the alien ahhhhhhh) AND let's not forget we'll likely get some remixes of this song if it blows up, and those remixes could deliver some alt takes. And as is, HP could fit nicely on the album sandwiched between much more instrumentally interesting tracks. Fingers crossed.

Preach, I Ran Away. I've always felt we shared taste in Coldplay and I agree that at some point you have to reckon with yourself that Coldplay is a different band and accept a new form of fandom. I thought the recent Zane Lowe interview was interesting because in the past, Chris has said "I don't care what people think" but now he's saying he wants people to enjoy the music -- kind of an easy excuse to adopt more pop sounds. I think I was really forced to reckon with Ghost Stories and recalibrate my expectations. I really thought that record was going to be super alternative after MX but in reality it was contemporary pop with mediocre lyrics. i still love that album, but it took me a long time to take a deep breath and be like "try to enjoy it for what it is." So naturally AHFOD landed a bit better for me at first because I just reconciled there were going to be tracks I didn't like. Now I feel like Oldplayer's are in a precarious position again, because EL really rekindled by hope that the band could make some truly big and epic stadium rock again while not sacrificing their alt roots. Higher Power to some extent feels like a natural continuation from Champion of the World, but I'm having eerily similar feels to ASFOS, where the Avicii production really removed the band dynamic. I think Max Martin is an undeniably brilliant producer, but I can't help but listen to HP with a bit of a cringe that Jonny's guitar is completely inaudible and that the finale of the track literally adds just a tambourine instrumentally. Orphans at least had this big swell of the choir and the guitar outro with the "I wanna be with you til the whole world ends..." but here it's just Will & Guy with the same beat for about 3 mins straight. So I'm cautiously optimistic that LP9 could deliver some awesome pre-MX atmospheres and even some awesome post-MX guitar licks, but if Max Martin produces the whole record you have to wonder...

I'm so excited to see the fandom celebrating this track and I just have to say how wonderful it is to be a fan of band that's constantly switching up the vibe and sound of their music. Higher Power is gonna sit comfortably with many other singles over the last decade -- it's got a great beat, a sticky chorus, and some interesting new soundscapes I wasn't expecting. My TLDR review is a solid 7/10, similar to singles like AOAL and ASFOS, which are songs that took a while to grow on me.

Yes agree that even if Higher Power isn't perfect, it feels like we could getting an album with some truly fun colors, textures and vibes. My fingers are crossed that Higher Power and only one other song are super pop oriented and that the rest of the album will include tons of guitar and more weird vocalisations. I hope it can at least maintain as many alternative sounding songs as MX,GS,AHFOD eras.

Collabs are inevitable and I wouldn't have an issue with a BTS feature if the track is good. That said, I think the rumors coming through are that Coldplay/Chris worked on a BTS song, not a Coldplay song. BTS is teasing their next project "Butter" which could be what Coldplay is involved with. Only time will tell, but yes just like SJLT a huge pop song could help Coldplay stay relevant for the rest of the year on major singles, assuming HP works great.

I don't think it's leaked yet, folks. But the next 48 hours are likely. Remember not to post ANYTHING related to the leak. I'm going to keep an eye on the discord since I love gobbling leaks up (if they're high quality). Otherwise we're just a few short days away !

I'm absolutely fascinated by the confidence going into Higher Power. It seems the record label is really wanting to push big marketing on this. I know that the band has a lot of say over the creative ideas, like Alien Radio and ultimately the art and vibe of the music, but clearly Warner Music Group/Parlaphone probably help schedule and fund performances like American Idol, Glastonbury, BRIT Awards etc. Compared to EL this feels like a lot of money is behind it and that execs are confident Higher Power will be a huge smash. Of course as a fan, i get nervous because I know I'll probably like it but critics love to lampoon Coldplay at every chance they get. I also wonder at what point with a new hit single by Coldplay just not vibe with the general public... Their last record-breaking song was SJLT, but we can largely attribute that to the Chainsmokers being a pretty big artist in 2017... which is partly why I wonder if Higher Power is gonna have a BTS remix dropping soon... Sorry for all the business talk, gang. I'm just interested on how these big money decisions are made. Ultimately I'm most excited about dancing to this song by myself.

I hadn't even thought of the Chromatica comparison! Kind of a fun nod to Gaga if it becomes a bigger part of this era. I think the problem is that we know the album will likely be called "Music of the Spheres" not Kaotica. Ofc that won't stop people on Twitter from raging.

I'll go out on a limb and make a prediction of what the song will sound like. it's 3:31 long, so like Orphans it's gotta be a tight pop song. Intro is sparse, ambient and all of a sudden synth keyboards with an 80's vibe kick in (similar to blinding lights) First verse, Chris singing about being in love and how wondrous it is. Bouncy bass line, electronic beats, and sticatto guitar flourishes. Chorus -- backed by LOVE Choir in an 80's/House music kind of vibe. Kind of like how Orphans had a kids choir in the background, this one will have a soul choir. Maybe "this joy is electric" in falsetto and the choir saying "Hiya Powaaa" Second verse, shorter than the first but with more guitar. Second Chorus -- Same. Bridge -- spacey ambience, maybe an 80's guitar solo from Jonny with some saxophone. Final Chorus/Outro. I think that Higher Power's name has a very 80's 90's pop vibe to it. Max Martin has produced some of the best 80's sounding modern songs ever -- Blinding Lights by the Weeknd, 1989 album by taylor swift, Last Friday Night by katy perry, and Can't stop the feeling by justin timberlake.

My long post before new music drops. TLDR: I'm super excited and optimistc that this is going to be the perfect Coldplay era for me, but ya never know. For those of you new to the speculation train -- you may not like the new music, but that's okay! We're gonna get what we're gonna get and we should try to be open to whatever happens.

++Stephen. My guess is that someone got a hold of the demo and just happened to release it, or wanted to wait until Coldplay started teasing again. All these theories are really exciting! I'd love it if Alien Radio was actually separate from MOTS and was an opportunity for them to release some, unreleased tracks from other eras -- for example it's so so so exciting that someone ran the code from the website and it performed the melody of Fall of Man! However, I think Alien Radio is just a teasing scheme. Could be a song title, but this is most likely just the beginning of the MOTS era, which will have a proper album by the end of the year. Higher Power will likely be the big pop lead single in a few weeks, and maybe we'll get another alternative song or an EP heading into the Summer. That's my best guess.

Heck yeah! That's great news. I don't remember seeing Jon Hopkins credited for any of Coldplay's music since Midnight, so I suspect he's involved with LP9. I hope that's a feature, but could just as easily be a producer role. He just released some new music recently that's really great, so it's possible he is doing that knowing Coldplay will soon mention him as well, which would boost sales/streams of his stuff.

^This. Taylor has been crushing it. I always liked her early albums and 1989 a lot but this past year she really became the most essential pop star. Both Folklore and Evermore are very, very good albums. Excited about the Jacob Collier news! It'd be cool if he featured... but I bet like with EL could be helping do mixing and production if the album is getting wrapped up. He also played the role of helping create "Angelina" from Cry Cry Cry, which Chris alluded to wanting to use again. I'm open to that... but also Cry Cry Cry is probably the first song I'd remove from EL since it tonally feels so different.