Album Review: Coldplay- Moon Music
2 min read
This year is turning out to be one long pop revival, with innovative and creative artists taking the form to new places. You would imagine Coldplay would follow suit with their new album, however, the only thoughts while listening to the album were of dullness. Coldplay’s move toward commercialisation is not working, and their collaborations are making them diluted—less of a band and more of a soulless passion project.
Moon Music is the second chapter in a trilogy of space-themed albums, and it is just as intoxicatingly boring as the last. It starts with a collaboration with Jon Hopkins, a pioneer of electronic music, so you’d expect something innovative. However, the first track Moon Music sounds like a jingly nursery rhyme you could imagine Chris and Gwyneth singing to a young Apple and Moses (who are credited on the album as songwriters). Moreover, the rest of the album’s soundscapes feel polished but unadventurous based on the formulas established in their previous album ChatGPT.
Martin’s voice has never been great, but on early albums, he was forgiven because of his songwriting skills. However, the tracks on this album are so poorly written that Martin’s voice now feels karaoke-esque. We Pray, featuring Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna, and TINI—a stacked lineup of incredible artists—sounds like a poor man’s Survivor by Destiny’s Child. GOOD FEELiNGS has a funky bassline and strong vocals from Arya Starr, but Martin’s strained vocals deflate the only song with any potential.
The songwriting reaches a new low in banality which is an achievement in itself considering the last few albums. The album explores love, unity, and optimism, but the treatment of these subjects is shallow and chaotic. iAAM feels like a carbon copy of Biffy Clyro’s Mountains, with muddled lyrics. Singing about standing on a “sea of pain” while also referencing being “back on your feet” is more confusing than profound. These kinds of ill thought out expressions are frequent throughout the album, leaving the listener puzzled by the intended emotion or message.
You have probably guessed that I’m not much of a Coldplay fan, though I recognize their success and can accept that not everyone finds Chris Martin terrifyingly bad. Some people enjoy their broad themes and lyrical generalisations and they comfortably sell out every tour they go on and receive widespread praise wherever they perform. However, this album takes commercialization too far, relying on their fans’ ability to absorb anything with their name on it, which, in the end, has led to a forgettable, abhorrent record with little redeeming quality.
