Inside Coldplay’s imaginary universe

Coldplay takes us to a voyage across the cosmos in their new album Music Of The Spheres.

Their sci-fi theme is apparent since they released teasers and album posts on their Instagram of a fictional solar system, made up of planets and other celestial bodies, captioned, “Everyone is an alien somewhere.”

The space-themed concept of their ninth studio album is embodied in the 12 tracks with five of the songs listed as emojis as their titles. These are (Music Of The Spheres), (Alien Choir), (Human Heart), (Music Of The Spheres II) and  (Infinity Sign).

The 53-second intro sets the mood of the cosmic journey of the 41-minute and 50-second album. It also featured some of the hottest music artists today, such as, BTS (in My Universe) and Selena Gomez (in Let Somebody Go).

The four-minute Let Somebody Go is co-written by frontman Chris Martin’s eldest daughter, Apple while his son, Moses, sang on the third track called Humankind.

The slow tempo Let Somebody Go is about break up and relationships, “Now turn off all the stars ‘cause this I know/That it hurts like so/To let somebody go…”

Humankind is one of my personal favorites in the album as well as the People of the Pride because of the upbeat and rock elements to it plus the lyrics remind us of how it is to be human on this planet. As the song Humankind goes, “We’re only human/But we’re capable of kindness/ So they call us Humankind.”

Meanwhile, Coldplay has just released its new remix of My Universe with Swedish electronic duo Galantis.

Prior to the remix, the English and Korean song with the South Korean boy band BTS has already “blasted the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 1, marking the Brits’ first leader since 2008’s Viva La Vida.”

BTS has long adored the British rock band and its members “have asked Coldplay if they wanted to write a song with them,” according to the media release.

Chris thought My Universe would be the perfect song with BTS so he immediately tapped producer Max Martin to complete the song. He then flew to South Korea to write and record the smash hit which surpassed 100 million views on YouTube.

The music video for My Universe, which is helmed by director Dave Meyers (who also directed Coldplay’s Higher Power video), is “set in the distant galaxy of The Spheres where music is forbidden, but BTS, Coldplay and an alien supergroup called Supernova 7 unite via hologram to defy the ban,” thus, “We are all one in the universe.”

In one of Coldplay’s gigs in London last month, Chris called his girlfriend, actress Dakota Johnson, his “universe” and dedicated the song to her. Moreover, the rock group dedicated their first track of the album Higher Power to French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who at that time was onboard the International Space Station (ISS). He returned to Earth just last week.

“A specially-recorded performance of Higher Power — featuring dancing alien holograms — was beamed up to Pesquet, who gave the track its very first play on board the ISS,” the band said.

“The song’s premiere followed a conversation which took in similarities between life on tour and life on the ISS; the fragility of planet Earth; and whether Pesquet has spotted any aliens,” they added.

Other tracks in the album are the cheerful Biutyful about universal love and the 10-minute Coloratura which transports the listeners to outer space. The award-winning band has announced tour dates in some cities in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America, unfortunately, no Asia tours yet.

The tour announcement was “accompanied by a comprehensive set of sustainability initiatives and environmental commitments, including halving CO2 emissions and planting a tree for every ticket sold.”

Aside from Chris, Coldplay is composed of Jonny Buckland (lead guitarist), Guy Berryman (bassist), Will Champion (drummer) and Phil Harvey (manager and creative director).