CEach new Coldplay album is accompanied by media enthusiasm – and disdainful and distant remarks from a part of the public for whom the simple name of the group refers to a general public musical compote with naive lyrics and blue flowers. And it’s not Moon Musicpresented as the second part of the pop album Music of the Sphereswidely criticized when it was released in 2021, which was an exception to the rule. The group can nevertheless shut up: the new kid is much more successful than its elder.
The tireless English optimists did not wait until 2024 to sing about love and joy: Chris Martin already sang “We live in a beautiful world” on the opening music “Don’t Panic” from their very first album Parachutesreleased in 2000. Except that on Moon Musicas in 2021, Coldplay modifies the pop-rock texture and abandons the guitars several times to turn to dance pop calibrated for stadiums.
A stalled pop dance
Bringing people together, Coldplay has proven for a long time that they know how to do it. But dance pop? The group hits a wall twice, despite an album production signed by the genius producer Max Martin (Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Adele…) who has followed them on each project since 2015: on the surprising but boring “ AETERNA” which we want to see concluded as quickly as possible, and the déjà vu “Good Feelings”, which despite the presence of afro-pop star Ayra Starr does not manage to camouflage a standard mix which is more indifferent that it does not ambiance.
The exercise is, however, more successful on the conventional “feelslikeimfallinginlove” whose glittery scenography we can already imagine at their concerts, or the excellent “We Pray”, a galvanizing humanist anthem, carried by dramatic and exhilarating violins, where Chris Martin shares the microphone with four renowned guests: the English rapper Little Simz, the Nigerian star Burna Boy, the Argentinian Tini Stoessel (and actress in the series Violetta), and the Chilo-Palestinian singer Elyanna.
The music refers in particular to the protest song with millions of views “Baraye”, by the Iranian Shervin Hajipour, which became a true anthem for the freedom of the Iranian people after the death of Masha Amini in September 2022.
It’s a fact, Coldplay has taken refuge over the years towards a mainstream register of synth pop, where most artists seek to renew themselves in order to break away from it. An assumed placement for the group with the reputation of a “stadium group”, which has just completed the most lucrative tour of all time, dethroning Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and its more than a billion revenues.
But let’s be honest: what made the group successful also tarnished its reputation. Far be it from the horror of hearing the music “A Sky Full of Stars” played three times a day on the radio, and having it stay in our heads all day long. We must not understand here that love and peace are old-fashioned: but artistic hollowness is.
More instrumental, less vocals
Fortunately, therefore, the English do not only devote themselves to conformist singles and prove on Moon Music that they continue to work on their musical abilities, like the opening music, with the eponymous name of the album, whose symphonic violins offer a twilight entrance, which will only return to close the album on the magnificent “One World” – also like this transitional music with a “rainbow” design, six minutes long, whose beauty emanates mainly from the central place of the instrumental –, or even the love ballad on the melancholic piano on which Chris sings “You have all my love, whether it rains a little or a lot, I am all yours”.
ALSO READ Avec « Always Centered at Night », Moby redevient popMany will stick to the overused global hits, without really focusing on the entire discography of the group – we think of Everyday Lifereleased in 2019, whose experimental aspect and absence of hits will not allow the project to reach the radio waves. But we tell you: it would be a crime to miss out on this music that is so brilliant in its positivism and its musical creativity.
Like his big brother Music of the Spheres, Moon Music will undoubtedly reveal its full potential in the stadiums. In the meantime, Coldplay never tires of reminding us that it is always as necessary as possible to save humanity, optimists and sharing. At this moment, it would be stupidity to deprive oneself of it.
« Moon Music » is available in physical version and on all platforms
