Fresh from the most lucrative tour of all time, Coldplay makes their discographic return with “Moon Music”.
This tenth opus digs into the pop furrow of its predecessor, punctuated by eclectic collaborations with the new generation.
As he approaches fifty, Chris Martin and his accomplices refuse to look in the rearview mirror… for the better in general.
How far gone are the days when Chris Martin walked a beach in the South of England under a stormy sky in the music video for “Yellow”. A quarter of a century later, Coldplay’s lead singer and songwriter has become the guru of a multi-colored sect that rocks stadiums around the world. Musically, the British group took its classic rock towards resolutely pop horizons, joining forces along the way with divas like Rihanna and Beyoncé while the guitars gave way to more synthetic sounds. In 2021, the album Music of The Spheres contained “My Universe”, an improbable collaboration with the South Koreans of BTS under the leadership of Max Martin, the Swedish producer of Britney Spears.
A mess of featurings
Available this Friday, Moon Music was recorded in Andalusia last summer, during the “free time” of a planetary tour which began in spring 2022. With 1.050 billion dollars in revenue to date, it is neither more nor less the most all-time moneymaker, narrowly topping Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Why change a winning formula? Chris Martin and his comrades understood this well and from the first majestic chords of the eponymous song, created with techno musician Jon Hopkins, Moon Music seems to have been designed as the soundtrack of a high-tech sound and light, with the robotic voice as a bonus.
This promising intro continues with the single “Feels Like I’m Falling in Love”, a turnkey hit where Chris Martin murmurs over a muted rhythm before being joined by the entire group during a scintillating chorus of a thousand lights. More daring, “We Pray” embodies Coldplay-style multiculturalism. Opening with an urban beat and oriental percussions, this anthem to tolerance brings together English rap star Little Simz, Afrobeat icon Burna Boy, Palestinian singer Elyanna and Argentinian pop star Tini. A bit disconcerting at first listen, this borderless collaboration quickly gets into your head.
Even when flirting with the limits of good taste, Coldplay persists in freeing itself from any musical label, where the previous generation – Oasis by chance – often remained locked into a predictable straitjacket. If the effective “Jupiter” is undoubtedly the title closest to the quartet’s repertoire from its beginnings, “Good Feelings” surfs on a delicious funk groove with the help of Nigerian singer Ayra Starr while “Rainbow” floats on psychedelic waves that the Flaming Lips would not deny. In the same desire to constantly surprise, the epic rock of “Iaam” gives way to the futuristic decibels of “Aeterna”. An electro pop nugget in the vein of the young DJ Fred Again which ends with a beautiful gospel choir.
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After this whirlwind of styles, Moon Music returns to conquered territory with “All My Love”, a romantic piano ballad which attempts to repeat the trick of “Fix You”, but less well. Before closing the affair with “One World”, a long chant peace and love to which the group invited a symphony orchestra… and fans from all over the world, after collecting their voices on a dedicated site. In an interview with his compatriot Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Chris Martin affirms that Coldplay still has two albums in its suitcases. Before flying to the moon for good?
