I'm Sorry Coldplay, But You've Lost Me..

Coldplay. Coldplay is one of those bands that is like a piece of black liquorice. You either love it or hate it. Now, i'm not here to put them down or put down their music. I am here to merely share my thoughts on the bands current state the direction they're going, and where they came from. So if you are a die-hard Coldplay fan who believes that they can't do any wrong with anything they put out, then you may want to stick around and have a read.

First off I am a fan of Coldplay. I have been ever since I was a teen. The Scientist, Clocks, Yellow, and some of their earlier work was what got me hooked on them. I knew of these popular songs, but at the time I was just a casual fan. I would say I still am up until this day. It wasn't until their Albums X&Y and Viva La Vida came around that I really started to enjoy what they were putting out. I was able to see them on their Viva La Vida Tour. It was my first ever live show in my life. I was mad that it wasn't U2 but Coldplay did the job. After all, Bono and Chris Martin are friends. Everything they were doing was great in that era of Coldplay. They had their hard hitting songs with catchy riffs like "White Shadows" and "Viva La Vida" and still had their soft, sad songs like "Fix You" and "42" I'll give it to Christ Martin and crew, they know how to write a stadium sing-along, and get you pumped, and can also take it down a notch and have you questioning life and all its mysteries with their more softer and sad songs.

It was after the Viva La Vida album, where I began to question the band's choice of direction on the sound on their newest album "Mylo Xyloto". Mylo brought along with it a new sound for Coldplay, which included a drum machine. Yes, you heard me right. A drum machine. When I first heard "Up in Flames" I thought to myself, what? why? What happened? Some of the single's like "Every Tear Drop Is A WaterFall", "Paradise", "Charlie Brown", and "Princess Of China" all incorporated some element of electronic/pop music. Was this bad? To some like myself, yes. To others no. Coldplay probably figured with all these new and upcoming bands, it was time for them to change up the "Coldplay Formula". If they wanted to stick around the scene, they were going to have to adapt to the way alt. rock was going, to that more poppy sound. With that in mind, they would be able to attract a younger audience to the band with this new sound, and I think it worked. "Paradise" was on radio's all over. They were selling out shows. I mean after all it's Coldplay. People were loving the new songs.

I ended up seeing Coldplay again on the Mylo Xyloto Tour, and you know what, it was good. The new songs did well. It's nice as a fan of their older material, because all the new songs got played at the beginning, which meant more time for the stuff I enjoyed. old Coldplay.

Like I said a few paragraphs above, I understand why the change of heart. At the same time I have to wonder, why? Why change? This wasn't the Coldplay that I had grown up with and had grown to love. I understand bands do this. Try and re-invent. U2 did it with "Pop" but they came full circle and went back to their signature sound. It's like me telling you, the reader, to stop being who you are. You need to change because someone or some outside force is influencing you. It's like, how do you go from writing songs like "What If?" and "Fix You" To all this new pop stuff? Those songs are better than anything they have put out recently ha ha. I just feel like maybe they lost their identity, but who am I to say? They know the sound they want to put out there, and where they want to go. Coldplay will do Coldplay. I just wish they stuck with their signature Coldplay sound. The sound that gave them massive success and brought them to where they are now. Who knows, maybe they will get tired of this sound and go back to their roots. I wish.

i did enjoy a few of their songs off of Mylo. I really love "Hurts Like Heaven" and "Charlie Brown". I'm not saying all this new stuff is bad. I mean in my opinion it's not their best work. That has been done already. I really love "Everglow" off their newest album, Adventure Of a Lifetime. It took me back in time with the piano as the lead for the song. If it's one thing that Coldplay can always do, is write a song. The sound may change, but the writing has always been solid. "All I Can Think About Is You" is also unreal. It mixes a suave bass line at the beginning of the song, like U2's "40" then brings in the piano and guitar to finish it off and blow out the candles. Seriously give it a listen. It really reminds me of the Coldplay that I used to love.

So with all this being said, I still love Coldplay. I have seen them three times now. if it's one thing they know how to do, it's put on a high energy live show like only Coldplay can. I still love them. They still hold a special place in my heart, along with their songs. They are still up their in my list of favorite bands. I wouldn't say they have lost me completely, but maybe Chris and the boys can make me fall for them like I fell for them back in the day. The only way to do that is to get to the heart of the listener, and I know they can do it, like only Coldplay can.

-Marco X

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