Ahead of the premiere of their new singles ‘Orphans’ and ‘Arabesque’, Coldplay‘s Chris Martin has spoken of how the highs and lows of day-to-day life and world politics has shaped their new album ‘Everyday Life’.
After teasing the record with mysterious vintage-style posters and billboards around the world, the band then confirmed news and the release date of their new double album ‘Everyday Life‘, before sharing the tracklist in a local Welsh newspaper.
Among the song names were ‘Orphans’ and ‘Arabesque’ – which will premiere tonight as the first taster of what’s to come.
“It’s all about just being human,” frontman Chris Martin told Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1. “Every day is great and every day is terrible…It just feels kind of free. There’s so much life bursting out on the planet.”
“[The album] is our reaction to the perceived negativity that’s everywhere. And there is a lot of trouble, but there’s also so much positivity and so much great life happening. So in a way, it’s just trying to make sense of things, saying what we feel and what we see.”
Martin went on to explain how the modern socio-political landscape and world events had also inspired his new lyrics.
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“The truth is there was something about our last tour that made me at peace with speaking openly and not minding if people disagree,” he continued. “This has been the first time we’ve felt like ‘We’ve got to this place as a band so there’s really nothing to think about career-wise.’ You can just speak completely freely and let all the colours of life come through.
“Some of it’s very personal, about real things in my life, and some of it’s about things that I see or we see, and some of it’s about trying to empathise about what other people are going through.
Martin added: “It seems to me that one of things that might help people have a better time is to put themselves in other people’s shoes, whether that’s these kids who have to leave Syria, or who grew up in Baltimore, or whatever it might be. Rather than judging from afar, maybe to think ‘I wonder what it’s like to be there.’”
Hear Martin’s full interview on Radio 1’s Future Sounds tonight from 7.30pm.
‘Everyday Life’ will be released on November 22, and split into two halves called ‘Sunrise’ and ‘Sunset’.
Speaking to NME about Coldplay’s new material, the band’s longtime friend and collaborator Mat Whitecross said last year: “I’ve heard a few things and filmed a few bits of them talking about it, but I don’t think I’m allowed to share anything. It’s interesting.
“They’ve been such a successful band that the narrative that gets portrayed of them in the press is ‘Oh, they must be very middle of the road. Whether you love the band or not, each album is an experimentation and markedly different from the last one. Just like a band like Radiohead. They haven’t written a ‘Kid A’ yet where their entire fanbase goes ‘What the fuck is this?’, but I feel like if you play the first one then the most recent, it’s not a foregone conclusion. They always want to be challenging themselves and surprising other people – that’s why they work with people like Brian Eno. In that sense, I’m sure whatever they do next will surprise people.”