Coldplay - Ghost Stories (out 5/19/204)

COLDPLAY REVEAL THE VIDEO FOR THEIR NEW SINGLE, "MAGIC"
The Song Is Taken From Their New Album, Ghost Stories, Releasing On May 19
Watch The Video Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtb11P1FWnc

Coldplay have revealed the video for their new single, "Magic." The single is currently available on iTunes.

The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and stars Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as a magician, with Chris Martin doubling up as both her loyal assistant and brutish husband.

"Magic" is taken from Coldplay's new album, Ghost Stories, which will be released on May 19 on Parlophone/Atlantic Records. The album can be pre-ordered now from iTunes worldwide at itunes.com/coldplay.

The full Ghost Stories tracklisting is as follows:

1. Always In My Head
2. Magic
3. Ink
4. True Love
5. Midnight
6. Another's Arms
7. Oceans
8. A Sky Full Of Stars
9. O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5Adx0RXpvg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8umNOkhqWRw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhJQL6CqOMw

And now there are three ... magic!!!!

Now watch me turn that song into ... this one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Kv6vxZwL8&feature=kp

More magic!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWphoQMIIco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfvlV63NEY0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2MuzO3WLmA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC3JFX6Yk5E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTb5RrZpocc

oh no, what's this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0yxmthyD5U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGXMzxpVaFA

lotta sadness in this world

it is likely i am the only person in the world who thinks "Magic" is really top shelf Coldplay

i totally think so too, ship

haha it's fucking awful

awwww i always love sharing a challop canoe with brad

song and video would be so much better and so much closer to what they want and need to be if you replaced chris martin w/ norah jones

video is pretty bad, i will say that.

I actually like the other song they released better -- Midnight. Moody album track stuff.

Coldplay's, er, clockwork dedication to the 3-year album/tour/album cycle seems a gambit to maintain momentum-derived arena status above all else, inspiration/quality of product be damned. This band wouldn't dare disappear for much longer than that.

bands make albums. i don't begrudge any of 'em for doing that regularly, whether they're good or not. what else are they gonna do?

Take some time off to make a better one?

Eh I don't think there's any consistent relationship between time spent and the quality of results. And even if there was, 3 years is not 'rushing the creative process' by any stretch of the imagination.

lotta sadness in this world

― balls, Monday, April 7, 2014

fuckin' a.

speaking of better songs named "magic"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvfE-Cf9Qcc&feature=kp

song and video would be so much better and so much closer to what they want and need to be if you replaced chris martin w/ norah jones

Similar thought but was thinking Sade.

I dunno, the tour/record/tour model is not bad, but given this band spends so much time on both I wonder if Martin, already under a lot of pressure, might find it easier aiming for the middle than going for anything ambitious. But then, I don't know who writes the songs.

All these "Magic" videos and not a single link to Pilot? Wow.

I actually quite enjoy the Coldplay song (even the little falsetto sections), better than "Midnight" for sure. Seeing mustachioed Chris Martin pretty much ruins the video, though

omg what the fuck is with Martin's staccato game on this track. he sounds like a guy at karaoke night imitating Jakob Dylan in the verse

My understanding from a few years ago is that Martin writes all the songs.

he writes the songs that make the young girls sing
he writes the songs of conscious uncoupling
he writes the songs that make yeezy cry
he writes the songs he writes the songs

I don't buy the idea that taking more time off would produce better records. If anything they should work faster and take more risks than the three-year cycle allows.

yeah, if you can't make your best possible record in 3 years, i fail to see how year 4 or year 5 is gonna hold the special breakthrough moment. that's Axl Rose thinking.

I never said they should take longer in the studio. Just that they take more time off between albums. Like a long break or hiatus.

Different people work in different ways, and the more successful an established pattern is (however you gauge 'success') the more difficult it is to break that pattern. The 3-year cycle certainly seems to work commercially for Coldplay, and with that in mind I imagine it'd be very hard for Martin to break out of it and do something else that might encourage more creative rewards, even if he'd like to.

I wonder how the chorus to 'O' goes.

yeah, if you can't make your best possible record in 3 years, i fail to see how year 4 or year 5 is gonna hold the special breakthrough moment. that's Axl Rose thinking.

Oh, you know, fewer diapers, wife out of the house.

what's funny is there was a whole thing where EMI Group publicly blamed their falling profits in 2004 on the fact that Coldplay (and also Gorillaz) had pushed their release date back to 2005, so it's not like the music industry ever told the band "yes, 3 years is fine, take your time"

Oh, no doubt. You can tell from interviews that Martin wants to take off. He'll end a tour with "this is the last you'll see from us for a while, we're taking some time off." And then 6 months later the machine has ramped up again. How can we miss you, Coldplay, if you don't go away? That's why I mentioned the band's tenuous grasp on arenas. They're at that level, but I suspect only if the machine is kept in motion. If the group took too long, there would not be a loud cry for more Coldplay. Dunno how much people clamor for new U2 albums, either, but then, U2 has a couple of decades on Coldplay. And they play bigger places, too.

I don't see much evidence that long breaks are good for arena bands. They've not been doing U2 or RHCP any favours. Normally they're a clue that the good songs aren't coming so easily anymore.

That's probably true. But also the bigger the band the longer everything takes and the more people are involved and the more work is required to maintain the machine. So I suspect what may appear from our vantage as "breaks" may in fact be much busier than they seem. With no doubt a lot of pressure on Martin to deliver the goods, which may be why he (and, hey, U2 and RHCP) have belatedly stuck to a more commercial model in recent years. Ironically, for them, I bet the firmer template of commercial music (hits are likely another thing) eases things up. If you're working with Danger Mouse or Will.I. Am, or Rick Rubin in a certain mode, it provides a safety net. In Coldplay's case, it's been firmly embracing MOR whereas previously the band was kind of MOR by default, if you accept the distinction.

Like, there's easy listening, and then there's easy to listen to.

so because they won't let me listen to this on Spotify. is there anyone out there who thinks this album is any good?

I bought it last night at Target (3 bonus tracks!), and have only made it 3-4 songs in so far, but I like it. It's enjoyable on headphones (not earbuds, actual headphones); the bass frequencies are very pleasurable. I have paid absolutely no attention to the lyrics, but the vocal melodies are nice and there are some cool backing vocals and tweaks to Martin's voice. I'll probably listen to the rest of it tomorrow.

i can't hear "magic" without imagining it sung by an exaggeratedly cliche bob dylan impersonator

Basically sounds like a Chris Martin solo album. Slow, smudgy and solipsistic except for one terrible bit of EDM lite. Beautifully produced though, like a gift-wrapped box with nothing in it.

This
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp7NtW_hKJI

sounds a lot like this cover they were doing a couple of years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYHD4g04zQQ

think this is their best album, EDMplay aside, and that the response is way offbase

"Midnight" through "Oceans" stretch is really powerful

Thank you, Mr. Martin.

Remember when bands used to give away stuff with their releases? This should come with a flask of coffee and a sleeping bag.

of all the things to tag as boring there's way more deserving candidates, this is v soothing n such

of all the things to tag as boring there's way more deserving candidates

That's always been Coldplay's problem, right? Boring in the most boring way possible? I actually liked the band's first four records, but really didn't like the turn they recently took, like they jumped from "Joshua Tree" U2 straight to nu-U2 and skipped all the interesting stuff in between. They used to be a more compelling (imo) MOR. Or at least the songs were better. Now, even more MOR, with Martin even more the focus, his laziness/ineptitude as a lyricist really sinks what began as banal below merely mundane and down to something pretty disagreeable. I've heard them described as the musical equivalent of rice pudding, but I like rice pudding, so I'll describe them as warm chocolate milk.

"That's always been Coldplay's problem, right? Boring in the most boring way possible?"

no. It's a criticism that only applies to some of their stuff & otherwise ppl are reaching. There is definitely much more boring-on-boring music out there

I honestly don't see how this could be considered more boring than Parachutes (which I don't personally like but seems to be one of the ones it's officially OK to) or X&Y

Because his lyrics, never strong, have taken such a loud, sharp, hard turn toward the utterly insipid? Because the melodies and structures, once merely mundane, are not resolutely MOR with an even more pronounced commercial bent (see: nu-U2)? I love boring music, personally, but there's a certain type of boring music designed to be so totally broad (ie a band like Train) that just totally drives me nuts. Coldplay c. now is all shortcuts and shorthand, just the broadest of broad strokes. Did you read the backhanded Nico Muhly review?

http://thetalkhouse.com/talks/nico-muhly-talks-coldplays-ghost-stories/#livefyreanchor

if I was going to single out Coldplay for Bad Lyrics (which honestly is not an issue I generally have with them) something like "Fix You" would be a more prime candidate than this, I think it captures the feeling it aims for pretty well

I can kinda see the MOR argument with "Ink" and "True Love," not so much the rest of the album. I just think this is a weird choice for Worst Coldplay Album Ever when again you have something as bloated/empty as X&Y and Rush of Blood/Viva la Vida are both hit-and-miss.

Who says this is the worst ever? Last one was the stinker.

lol I dug the last one, thought it was their most consistent in quality up to that point. although "Paradise" sucked.

Contrarianplay

Yeah, I hated the last one, and I like X&Y quite a bit.

One issue I do have with this band is that I haven't enjoyed one of their iconic singles (tm) since "Clocks," unless "Clocks" rewrite "Speed of Sound" counts but I don't think that's what people associate with that album these days, it's more fix youuuuuu

the fact that the Avicii track here could become the biggest hit is depressing

Rush of Blood> Viva La Vida> Parachutes> X&Y> Ghost Stories> Mylo

There is a string arrangement that is disappointingly on the nose: it moves at exactly the same time as the chords, so why is it there? It’s like having a giant picture of your body printed on your body instead of wearing clothes.

Love this Muhly line

Viva la Vida was cool that they expanded on their sound & is nice if taken with the EP after but to be real only 5 songs are good, and one is a short instrumental

X&Y is so bad dudes

everything after vlv has been a boring blur to me except for the song that ripped off kraftwerk which was ok

Kraftwerk one was before, wasn't it?

yeah that's X&Y "Talk"

it stops a couple steps short of being not-dull but yeah one of the better songs on there relatively speaking

listened to the new one and don't remember anything about it. but nothing offended me.

It's very purdy and y'all're heartless

I'd like a Pitbull verse in the middle of "A Sky Full of Stars."

do the words fly at the speed of light or sound on this one?

speed of slow

that's an innovation then

Coldplay's latest album, "Ghost Stories", has arrived at No. 1 on Billboard 200. Nielsen SoundScan reports that the record, which marks the British act's fourth No. 1 LP on the chart, takes the top slot after selling 383,000 copies in its first week.

That's the biggest sales week for this year, easily surpassing Eric Church's "The Outsiders" that opened with 288,000 back in early February.

I don't think the desperate, craven, career-low shittiness of Sky Full of Stars has been fully acknowledged itt.

the clicky drum programming can be a little distracting on certain songs that's the real one issue here

Part of why I dig "Midnight" cuz it's all vibe

http://images.smh.com.au/2014/06/19/5524858/1403141091085.jpg-620x349.jpg

I guess it's cool that the video for this begins right outside the shitty joint where I get my hair cut but uh yeah this album = no.

SHE LEFT YOU COS YOU DRESS LIKE THAT

SHE LEFT CONSCIOUSLY DECOUPLED YOU COS YOU DRESS LIKE THAT

If you buy the album at Target for the 3 additional songs, the track "Ghost Story" easily improves the album half a grade.

So,D-?

That isn’t where you get your hair cut.

It’s truly stunning what a bad job they did of shooting a video on King St – not only does it manage to be worse than the embarrassing Sticky Fingers clip that it’s biting, but it’s just so dull and poorly-schemed on so many levels. How the flying shit did they not tell the 250 volunteers NOT TO STAND THERE POINTING THEIR PHONES at Martin? Point out that they’ll be able to see him in the actual video just TWO DAYS LATER? Why walk only two blocks, and not even two of the more interesting blocks? Is the point of using King St not to get some of the character of the neighbourhood in? Why are those people crossing the road away from the procession carrying balloons or whatever – were they going somewhere interesting? Were they meant to be filmed but it didn’t happen? Lol at him meeting the band under the I Have A Dream mural and blokey tip-tapping at his marching snare while EDM-by-numbers bursts out. Loool at the cameraman starting to pan up to try and get MLK and the globe in but being told not to go away from the band and quickly stopping. Ugh at when they get round by the Hall and cop shop, cutting for the first time to a completely ineffectual overhead shot of the confetti cannon, instead of having the confetti appear from nowhere and shower over the band and crowd (who are finally engaged for the first time by it. Says a lot for the inherent appeal of the band, eh?). Etc!

In summation: I watched this once last week and have opinions.

yeah the phones in this video were infuriating.

i actually think this song is easily the best thing on the album which is, for the most part, soporifically lustreless

Didn't need those Coldplay cunts after all.

I bought the album at Target for the extra material. Definitely enhances things. It's certainly not the best anything, but it's a very pretty album. Definitely worthy of few late night listens this summer. They've made worse albums, they've made better albums.

**shrug**

geez at that pace you'd think he could have stopped for a beer and a gelato

congrats at not getting stopped by socialist alternative volunteers handing out flyers/deranged old punks however

"but it's a very pretty album"

I'm saying

they are on this I Heart Radio thingy (Live right now:

https://screen.yahoo.com/live/event/iheartradio-festival-2014

I still like this album even though I'm not in the mood for it lately (cuz game with the ladies is back up) but I seriously wanna murder "Sky Full of Stars"

haha, it is now on live.

that was fun, i saw four songs. they do sound nice but would not actually put them on.

it's a good album man. Mad feels

"Another Arms" and "Oceans" are devastating

Holy shit it came out in 204 tho, Coldplay ahead of the game

lol, i actually really liked the songs that they played.

can never let them live "words flying at the speed of sound" down

"Midnight" through "Oceans" really lives up to the heartbreak theme, like damn Mr. Martin I'm really sorry dude

^"Speed of Sound" is awesome tho! even though it's a "Clocks" update and not as good as that. IDK though it also was big when I started college & when I'd met the first girl I really liked there but was still awkward as hell so it made me feel some type of way

Also it's "birds go flying..."

Ghost Stories got that Yeezus swag where the second half is better/more emotionally resonant than the first

I seem to be one of the few who thinks that about Yeezus tho

birds! I thought he was basically singing 'cars go driving at the speed of cars' this whole time!

it`s simply great that there are still people out there like chis martins who are willing to take a risk and just write great songs. we need more music like this, and i strongly predict that this will be an album that rewards the watchful ear. speaking of awards, i also predict this will be nominated for at least a brit award, if not a grammy. as for the pitchfork boys, i`m calling a solid 8/10. but let's not "speak to soon", but let's bath in the greatness of this great classic album

why aren't we speaking to soon?

He's a jerk is why.

i mean, it`s clear that the consensus is that this is a classic 8/10`er but let's not put the baby in the bath water, is all i'm sayin'

I'll be first in line to drown Chris Martin in bath water.

Not that Martin doesn't write some lame platitudes sometimes but honestly I think the lyrical Coldplay criticism is mad played-out and totally misses the point

There are plenty of other criticisms you could make btw, just that's a particularly weak one imo

I'll be first in line to drown Chris Martin in bath water.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, September 20, 2014 9:53 AM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow you're a clever dude

birds! I thought he was basically singing 'cars go driving at the speed of cars' this whole time!

― ILX preorders SPYRO for Playstation (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, September 20, 2014 9:14 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao

Coldplay feat. Gary Numan -- "Speed of Sound (Cars Remix)"

i say forget the haters, i'd like to have a party for all the haters and see how they like those "apples"

"yes", "don't panic". "what if" "we never change".

There are plenty of other criticisms you could make btw, just that's a particularly weak one imo

Actually, I think ripping on his lyrics is the most valid criticism.

nah, the vague nature of the lyrics (more previous to this album) is the point, maximum relatability n such. It doesn't automatically make 'em good/defensible mind but still.

in any case Coldplay's about tunes and vibe, if you don't like what they do there then OK. But nitpicking Martin's lyrics is nerd shit in a bad way, they're making music not writing poems

sadly, some bands can do both well

well I don't care cuz I'm like the rap fan stereotype of obvious rock bands I like

it's all good though lol

I really do think Martin's lyrics are fine though. Look our fam dog's gonna be put down next week and "Oceans" made me feel some type of way today, don't hate

am i the only person who thinks "Magic" is a top 5 Coldplay song? i'm pretty lukewarm on the rest of the album though.

haha definitely not hating. I don't hate Coldplay. I get it.

xp Scott Aukerman

I'd completely forgotten that this album was ever a thing. Of everything Coldplay has ever released, I've by far found this one the easiest to ignore, which is definitely a blessing as far as I'm concerned.

I would love to be surprised. We'll see.

I'd completely forgotten that this album was ever a thing. Of everything Coldplay has ever released, I've by far found this one the easiest to ignore, which is definitely a blessing as far as I'm concerned.

― Welcome To (Turrican), Saturday, September 20, 2014 8:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IDK man maybe it's just my work but I've heard "Sky Full of Stars" (worst song on here, easy) a billion times on their radio and it got me feeling like Paul Rudd against the Michael McDonald video

It is a pretty conscious "artistic" album not designed to churn out anthems (or attempted anthems) like their last ones though. except for that stupid song.

am i the only person who thinks "Magic" is a top 5 Coldplay song? i'm pretty lukewarm on the rest of the album though.

― some dude, Saturday, September 20, 2014 8:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I like "Magic" but I like "Midnight" better, in all its Bon Iverish woodland critter glory

I like Magic so and so but I truly find this band repulsive. I can't help it. I know there's bands more deserving of the hate but everytime I overhear them I just feel like punching their music in the face. I'm pretty sure it's Chris Martin's voice.

Hello again. We're pleased to report that the band's current album, Ghost Stories, is now available to hear in full on all major streaming services worldwide. Click on your preferred service to listen to the album now:

- Spotify
- Deezer
- Rdio

Of course, if you'd rather own the album, it's available from the links below:

There are a lot of Coldplay threads. Is there a primary Coldplay thread? Anyway, this is as good as any, because this album is one of the five Coldplay albums I've never heard, with another one I won't hear coming out this month. Or maybe it is already out? Who can tell. I was reading the short New Yorker profile from the always reliable Petrusich, and it was there that I learned that a) there is a new album and b) the band claims it will no longer record after making two more records, just tour? Who even makes a worthless announcement like that?

coldplay, on a near constant basis (this feels like the third or fourth time they’ve vowed to stop recording albums, once they vowed to stop touring)

this album is ok but viva la vida is still the best

I heard the new album yesterday. I hadn't listened to a Coldplay album in a decade (the last one I heard was Ghost Stories). My immediate takeaway was that anyone who thinks no-show jobs are just a mob thing, let me tell you, the Other Guys In Coldplay are absolute *masters* of the grift. Having heard "their" new album, I'm sorry, it sounded like Chris Martin, a few guest vocalists, and a million dollars worth of ProTools expertise.

I am falling asleep just reading the description of the music

this isn't even the first time martin's made that claim - he said a decade ago that they were only going to release 7 albums and now he's saying it'll only be 12 albums. there was a similar silly justification to last time too - there are only 12 beatles albums (a decade ago it was that there are only 7 harry potter books), and that he thinks they wouldn't be able to keep the quality control up if they made more (lol)

ghost stories is one of their better albums though

Just retire and buy an island and don’t bother anyone

the only one that's remotely worth a listen since ghost stories is everyday life which was a surprisingly solid spiritual successor to vlv, they're ultimately much better at being an art rock-lite band than a full-on pop one

I tried vlv again a few months ago and musically it was fine, but the lyrics are a cringy binfire.

Also the album titles are just parodies now. Music of the Spheres. Moon Music. wtf

it’s a cool cover and they’re a good Shoegaze band, will check this out

Went in expecting what I got, and get from most* modern Coldplay albums - some good tracks, some bad tracks. They are pretty good at filling their Stadium Ambient quota and they do that on like 3 tracks here - the best being the rainbow one. The only pop song that made much of an impression was Aeterna.

*Everyday Life, really solid on the whole, is the exception

When I was looking up which Coldplay albums I'd not heard (and never will hear, tbh, despite being a modest fan of the first four) I noticed that just about every track on "Mylo Xyloto" was co-written *but not produced* by Eno. I'm not sure that's ever been the case for any Eno project. Even the Berlin trilogy, Eno gets co-writer credit on just a relative few of the songs, not counting the instrumental stuff.

Classic:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/coldplay-kiss-cam-exposes-astronomer-142620411.html

Coldplay’s Kiss Cam Exposes Astronomer’s CEO Andy Byron Alleged Affair With HR Chief Kristin Cabot

more like Hotplay amirite

Bryon's statement is HILARIOUS peak-entitlement vibes of someone who has never been held accountable in their entire life and lives their life off a corporate script.

I hope his soon to be ex-wife gets paid in full.

Apparently that statement that's been circulating is fake, he hasn't actually made a statement yet.

lol at “Either they’re having an affair or…”

I just wanna say that if there's one thing that brought us all together from the daily atrocities was making fun of this CEO doofus. How dare he use "Astronomer" for his b.s. data aggragator, (insert Lloyd Bentsen quote)

The most delightful (?) thing about all this was me being prompted to wonder, in that I don't think about the band at all, "Have they always had the same lineup?" Indeed so but: there's a fifth member who is sorta their vibes guy and a once and future manager who's been there nearly the whole time aside from an early to mid 2000s break:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Harvey_(band_manager)

The key info here being that they all met in college when this dude "played bass for The Rockin' Honkies, a group that performed soul and R&B covers."

I’m sorry, the who

lmao

https://bsky.app/profile/notphillies.bsky.social/post/3lubrjgrgnn2l

I was taking a shit at work in a stall when I heard a dude talking about his weekend trip to this shit band and I was like bro are you for real

*see

Can’t decide if being caught cheating is worse than being caught attending a coldplay concert.

The affair I can forgive, but...Coldplay?!?

(says the spouse)

cultural bankruptcy

I’m sorry, the who

Imagine being a non-playing member of Coldplay and somehow NOT having that be the most embarrassing thing on your c.v.

I laughed I cried pic.twitter.com/u4CWubF5Ze

— Congolesa Rice (@judeinlondon) July 19, 2025

Phanatic rules

I was taking a shit at work in a stall

As opposed to the sink?

amazing that this guy thought "maybe if I duck down no one will see me" and within 24 hours Major League Baseball teams were making fun of him

They're playing here tonight, and I simply cannot fathom that there are 60,000 people who are the kind of people who would go see Coldplay.

Resigned!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andy-byron-astronomer-board-investigation-coldplay-kiss-cam-video/

Also what kind of band has a kiss cam?

lol at the guy with the “this is my wife” sign can relate

again, “Coldplay kiss cam” is doing my head in.

Nothing says “it’s time to make out” than “clocks” right ???

Should be replaced by a “for those about to rock”

_claps claps claps claps claps_

_I was taking a shit at work in a stall _

As opposed to the sink?

Well, yeah

Coldplay is foreplay music for YIMBYs (unless it's a homeless shelter), zero surprise at a kiss cam

As opposed to the sink?

Some years ago I posted this, but there's another option that I wish some people would stop taking.

Not guilty

my son likes a few Coldplay songs and is such a lovely guy, so I say fuck all the haters

my son likes a few Coldplay songs

Sorry to hear

LOL, between this and the Paltrow ad, this story gets douchier by the minute.

CEO Andy Byron looking to sue Coldplay

Ah yes, sue them, thus ensuring that the story keeps getting circulated instead of forgotten, very wise move.