How do you feel about Coldplay?
It’s a question that has become similar to discussing political leanings. It can split friendships and start angry discussions one way or the other.
I don’t quite understand why. Sure, by anyone’s standards, Coldplay are a huge band and yet they come across as ordinary, everyday people. With the exception of Chris Martin himself, you could probably miss the others on the street if you walked by them. They seem like average people who have effortlessly wandered onto the biggest stages in the world.
Of course what we see is hiding the million hours of blood, sweat and toil to get to where they are, but there’s a mixture of humbleness and grandiosity in everything they do that means they constantly walk a tightrope between seeming like they are wide eyed and innocent and letting everyone know they’re one of the biggest bands on the planet.
Their music is bold, frequently romantic, idealistic, and hopeful. I think this, more than any other Coldplay trait, is what the haters want to hate on.
Where’s the anger? Where’s the attitude? Where’s the punk aesthetic?
I say, who cares?
As their recent 5th visit to England’s Glastonbury Festival headline spot proved, a field of 100,000 plus people will sing along to every word they sing.
That’s because big, bold, romantic songs like theirs still have a very valid place in this world.
Chris Martin was the humble front man at Glastonbury, trying as hard as he could to include the crowd in what the band were doing. At the same time, thanks to the cleverly-crafted wristbands, that crowd’s wrists became the band’s field-wide lighting rig. It looked spectacular.
That’s Coldplay – humble and huge.
Another clever move was at the end of their Glastonbury set. They ‘finished’ with “Fix You”, one of the band’s biggest songs. The crowd dutifully took over lead vocal duties for most of the song. And then Chris Martin asked the crowd if it was time to say goodnight or if they’d like one more song that, “describes the way you make us feel.” Of course the crowd wanted one more and they got Coldplay’s new song. A song seemingly innocently dedicated to the whole crowd.
Released a week before Glastonbury, “feelslikeimfallinginlove”, their grammar-challenged new song, isn’t going to be as big a singalong as “Fix You” or “Yellow.” But what a fabulously canny way to publicize it – leave the crowd singing the new one.
The song itself isn’t a million miles away from their last monster smash, “Higher Power.” It starts with a light, sprightly verse with words that don’t go too deep. It’s a standard love song which is finely tuned and expertly produced to be free of any unneccessary weight. It’s streamlined and almost too light to notice when it first plays. But like many Coldplay songs, it’s insistent. Listen to it for a second time and that chorus will stay with you all day. The third time you’ll be looking for an excuse to drive along in an open top car with your hands in the air, singing at the top of your voice.
Martin is always walking a tightrope with the construction of his songs. They seem heartfelt and at the same time as though there’s a formula. As the band start the song live, he invites the crowd to double clap at the chorus. He must be well aware that to get the crowd to participate with a song, whether with “ooohs” and “aaahs” or with synchronized clapping is a way to get them involved and make it memorable to those people because they’re concentrating on it that much more.
But it also means that if Chris Martin decides to end Coldplay’s Glastonbury set with it, you best believe you won’t forget it in a hurry.
Whether you’ll like it or not depends on that question again.
How do you feel about Coldplay?
I think they’re pretty great.
