The British rock band Coldplay exploded onto the scene in 2000 with their debut album Parachutes and its single “Yellow.” After decades of touring and performing around the world, they are veteran musicians, but do they write their own songs, or are they just performers?
Coldplay writes their own music and has a prolific career with both studio and live performances. They have performed thousands of shows in many different countries, and are among the most recognizable musical acts internationally.
By the end of the 2000s, they had topped world record sales in not just one but two different years with two separate, original albums. Coldplay has earned its place in the public sphere as one of the world’s most popular bands.
The Writing Process
As is common in the music industry, Martin and his bandmates have worked with numerous producers and musicians over their illustrious careers as touring and recording musicians. The creative side of Coldplay, however, has almost always been directed by the band members themselves. They rarely extended writing credit for their songs to non-band-members.
One notable exception to this was when the band reached out to German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, asking for permission to use an old melody of theirs in a Coldplay song. Kraftwerk allowed it and was given writing credit on X&Y’s semi-cover-song, “Talk.”
For their fourth album, they teamed up with legendary producer Brian Eno. Eno, as is famous for doing with many well-established artists, challenged the band to grow their sound and make decisions in the recording process that they would not have earlier on earlier albums.
Although the writing credits for the album only included Coldplay band members, Martin even admitted in that same Rolling Stone interview that a particularly clever lyrical line was written by Eno while they were all taking a break from recording. They were talking about lyrics while eating sandwiches.
Martin has spoken about his process and the content of some of Coldplay’s lyrics over the years. His then-wife Gwyneth Paltrow was the subject of several songs, and even since their conscious uncoupling in 2014, she sang with her ex on a track for their album A Head Full Of Dreams.
An Undeniable Force
Several critics over the years have described Coldplay’s music, either happily or begrudgingly, as being a huge presence in music on an international level. Those that love them really love them, and even those who don’t at least respect the level they have reached.
As with all artists who reach the very peaks of international fame, they have had their share of both supporters and detractors in their decades as public figures.
While having taken criticism at times for being too broad in their appeal, or too soft in their performance, Coldplay and Martin have stood the test of time and the gauntlet of the press. The proof is, after multiple decades, as is said, ‘in the pudding.’
Keeping Connected To Their Fans
Known for their creative music videos and stage concepts, Coldplay hasn’t slowed down in that department either. Their YouTube channel has over 18 million subscribers and the band is still delivering fresh content to their fans, like the full live performance of Everyday Life at the Amman Citadel in Jordan.
Like many celebrities during quarantine, Martin turned to his computer to connect with Coldplay fans. He took part in Lady Gaga’s #TogetherAtHome benefit concert and continued to connect with fans under the same hashtag as he put out videos on the Coldplay YouTube channel.
One heartwarming video on a Coldplay fan channel shows Martin making room at his keyboard for a young German fan (and musician) who came prepared to the Munich concert with a sign asking Martin to allow him to play “Everglow” on his behalf.
Bulletproof Brits
In early 2020 Martin spoke to NME and described Coldplay’s job at this point in their career is to be of service to their fans. Having decades on the scene and having achieved some of the highest professional honors in the industry, it’s both gracious and understandable that the members could feel this way.
Having won numerous Grammys, Brit awards, performing at the Super Bowl, touring across continents and hemispheres, and releasing some of the all-time best-selling albums, Coldplay’s place in music history is secure and generations to come will be listening to this British quartet.