Coldplay - ‘Paradise’ Review

Coldplay are undoubtedly a massive band. Success has travelled with them throughout their entire career, with the release of every album and single. They could probably already whack out a pretty solid greatest hits CD, but thankfully they’re still going strong. In recent years, the hate for Coldplay has grown and grown – with haters calling them overly commercial, samey, boring, pretentious, tame and many other things of a slightly ruder nature. Sure, I can understand the points to an extent, but I can’t find myself agreeing.

The first single (Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall) from their upcoming album, titled Mylo Xyloto (don’t worry, you’re allowed to be perplexed by this), was released back in June of this year, along with a couple of B-sides. I personally didn’t get along with the song at all. It was too upbeat, leant too heavily towards the mainstream, and felt a little forced coming from Chris Martin and co. The B-sides were pretty nice though. Admittedly, it would have been perfectly fine coming from another artist. In this opinion though, I must be a very lonely soul; the song charted in the UK at a very respectable number 6. What’s that? “How did it perform in South Korea?”, you ask? Number 1, my friend. Fair enough.


This next single, Paradise, is Mylo Xyloto’s true lead single; arriving approximately a month before the full record touches down. It debuted on BBC Radio 1 this morning, and is now up for download. The main question being asked by Coldplay fans is whether it will continue the trend set by Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall. In essence, it does. The overall feel is brighter than anything Coldplay have released from their previous albums, and as iffy as I am with this shift in direction, it is a good thing. Adapting and experimenting with styles and sounds is absolutely essential if a band is ever going to be thrust up into the upper echelons of music history – an area that, given time, Coldplay could possibly conceivably reach. What’s good about Paradise is that it doesn’t feel awkward. It’s clear that the band is trying to modernise, and in that respect this single has certainly succeeded where Every Teardrop failed. It manages to incorporate elements of Coldplay’s classic sound, whilst also pushing forth a much more colourful overall feel thanks to the use of light, fuzzy synths and a rather jolly chorus. This song is in no way special, I must say now – but there’s a lot to like about it. There’s a chilled-out vibe to it, with a fairly gorgeous little instrumental introduction. The verses are really nice too, if you can get past the clichéd lyrics that most people have come to expect from Chris Martin. Thankfully, his vocal performance is stellar here. Conversely, it all comes across tasting a little bit cheesy and come the end of the song, you may already be slightly sick of the chorus. The repeated “para-para-paradise” is all well and good, but the chanting that may now have been copyrighted by Coldplay that follows is unwelcome in my eyes. Not to worry, I can live with that; I’m quite partial to a slice of cheese now and then. I don’t like to say it, especially about a band that I personally favour, but it’s delving into the dangerous territory of accidental self-parody. The same can be said about the bland guitar playing towards the end of the song and the twee piano outro.

Paradise is a solid song, and I’m sure will get its fair share of radio airplay. The accessible hook that it carries essentially means it’s perfect single material. Far from perfect, but good all the same. I just can’t help but feel as though in trying to brighten themselves up and apply some heat to the current UK music scene, they’ll overdo it, melt, descend into mediocrity and become Lukewarmplay. I stand by my view that Coldplay are best used in situations where your mood’s a bit low.

6.5/10

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