Music of the Spheres
| Coldplay
Music of the Spheres
Music of the Spheres (subtitled Vol I. From Earth with Love) is the ninth studio album by British rock band Coldplay, released on 15 October 2021 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Atlantic Records in the United States. The album was produced by Max Martin, who is a new producer to the band's discography. It features guest appearances from Selena Gomez, We Are King, Jacob Collier and BTS, as well as returning contributions from electronic producer Jon Hopkins. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
PopMatters
Coldplay’s ninth studio album Music of the Spheres desperately wants to inspire its listeners, but the songwriting and sound fall flat.
-
Pitchfork
Combined with Chris’ already-sketchy writing and the album’s ham-fisted instrumentation, this results in songs that don’t pinpoint a feeling but rather helplessly wave their arms in the direction of one.
-
Rolling Stone
Their ninth LP is a far-out voyage to a made-up solar system, powered by pure pop idealism and Max Martin production.
-
NME
Like a sparkling night sky sewn with stars, ‘Music Of The Spheres’ is a celestial beauty that’s capable of inspiring great awe and emotion – not least on its grandiose, poignant closer ‘Coloratura’.
-
The Crimson
While the ancient Greek philosophical concept of the “music of the spheres” refers to celestial bodies’ inaudible movements, Coldplay’s latest work gives the phrase a tangible form with universal appeal.
-
Salon
Coldplay's new album "Music of the Spheres" is an unholy mess.
-
Baylor Lariat
“Music of the Spheres” is a joyful, thematic and soothing album with a message we could all stand to take to heart.
-
Riff Magazine
Music of the Spheres is a beautifully produced electronic and colorful voyage into space that reflects on the nature of humanity and the need for universal love. But in the back of my mind, I can’t help but think that these days, only billionaires can afford to go into space, looking at humanity from a measured distance. While Coldplay attempts to bring listeners into the astral realm with them, there’s something inauthentic about a discernible attempt at spiritual insight and emotional depth. While the accompaniments are relaxing, meditative, engrossing and enthralling, the lyrics take these celestial melodies and bring them right back down to earth.
-
The Guardian
The overall effect is odd, as if Pink Floyd had decided to extend their reach circa Wish You Were Here by getting the New Seekers and Little Jimmy Osmond involved. Who knows: it might work, at least commercially. But there must be more dignified ways to stay at the top.
-
The Line of Best Fit
The ninth instalment from Coldplay is a funny one. With exciting collaborations on the roster and a concept that sparks intrigue, it was set up to be somewhat more engaging than their previous works that, honestly, almost blend into one. However, the album is delivered as a mishmash of ideas that misfire from the get-go, missing out on the potential it built in the lead-up to its release.
-
The Reflector
I thought the album was really good. It had beautiful songs with a number of interludes in between them. Coldplay continues to be one of those bands in the music industry that continue to make hits even after 21 years.
-
Spin
To the band and Martin’s credit, the album in totality sounds terrific, especially on the low end. It’s deliciously rich, with plenty of thump.
-
Consequence Sound
Coldplay have really outdone themselves on Music of the Spheres, and not necessarily in a good way — they’ve never made music this overwhelmingly general, with so few risks and so little nuance. The album — which was produced by ultimate pop whisperer Max Martin — is covered in a plastic sheen, filled with generic statements about love and humanity, and completely oblivious to its own plight.
-
Under the Radar
Stick around for 20 years and there will be some downs with the ups. But that’s an insufficient explanation for how Music of the Spheres ended up this horrid.
-
Our Culture
a strangely perfect destination for a record with lots of places to be but not much to say.
-
The Cowl
Sonically, Music of the Spheres represents a union of the old and new. Familiar melodic bits combine with innovative use of voice distortion technology and instrumental composition to evolve the band’s sound.
-
Commedia
Overall, the lyrics and message are meaningful and Coldplay will continue to be a top selling band with this space epic of an album.
-
Spill Magazine
Music Of The Spheres is a thematic conceptual work of art that has outdone anything Coldplay has done on prior works. It floats, transcends, even defies musical gravity at times with a compassionate message that hugs each of our aural senses and hearts one at a time.
-
The Post
Overall, the album is fine. It’s not amazing, but it’s good. A fair amount of the songs are good and catchy, with only a few being mediocre and a couple being great. If the tracks with lyrics were all released separately, I believe it would have been better because it wouldn’t have seemed so jumbled.
-
Renowned for Sound
oldplay’s ninth studio album may contain some space debris but that won’t stop you zipping up your spacesuit and bouncing up and down to Coldplay’s astral musings, especially when they receive a little help from their friends.
-
Sputnik Music
This is who Coldplay are now, producing the most casual music for the most casual listeners possible. It’s sad especially when you revisit early works such as A Rush of Blood to the Head or even Viva La Vida.
-
Stereoboard
Since they burst onto the scene as dreary indie kids in 2000, Coldplay have transformed into a kind of Technicolor soft rock/world pop juggernaut. It’s unabashedly Peter Gabriel meets U2, and ‘Music of the Spheres’ is surprisingly successful in this context. What it lacks in political teeth it makes up for in blind compassion. People will hate it, of course, but the greenbacks are likely rolling in again.
-
The Young Folks
A Predictable Disappointment.
-
Yorkshire Times
Back on Planet Earth, Coldplay are set to have worldwide success again with this album.
-
Evening Standard
The latest album from Chris Martin and co is shiny mainstream pop - but it’s unlikely to light up the skies.
-
Clash Magazine
Built around a loose-knit concept – and incorporating short bursts of sound to craft an aesthetic spine – ‘Music Of The Spheres’ seems to take Coldplay further away from their roots at a time when less and less contemporaries are able to hit those heights. To continue using those U2 comparisons, perhaps this is their 90s, a period of identity confusion and experimentation. If ‘Music Of The Spheres’ is Coldplay’s ‘POP’ however, we’re longing to find their ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’.
-
musicOMH
Certainly there are some interesting moments on Music From The Spheres. But overall it’s the sound of Coldplay treading water. More alarmingly, it begins to sound like they’re trying not to drown.
-
The Sydney Morning Herald
Beneath the glistening surface, not a lot resonates on new Coldplay album.
-
The Irish Times
Coldplay are as optimistic as Christian summer camp counsellors, their purity unparalleled. Ambitious and suitably ridiculous, Music of the Spheres is a natural but overly saccharine progression for one of the biggest bands in the world. Some millionaires jet off to space – Coldplay generously bring space to us.
-
The Independent
The album’s lyrical positivity and melodic predictability should fly well in the current climate.
-
GSGM
Coldplay has heralded the dawn of a new era! It is the age of emoji song titles. Although many people are scratching their heads, wondering how you can pronounce a song title made up of emojis, others argue that it is a groundbreaking approach to modern music, and given that the emoji tracks are simply short, album fillers, why not? We are all for it.
-
The Red Ledger
Coldplay’s ‘Music of the Spheres’ is a let down.
-
The Times
fluff from a band who lost their way.
-
411MANIA
Coldplay have abandoned the artful indie of Every Day Life in favor of a brazenly sentimental assault on the pop charts. The results are at times a touch crass and under-baked, but Chris Martin & Co still know their way around a touching hook on the disappointing, but not dire Music Of The Spheres.
-
Vinyl Chapters
Many will say that this album was purely strategic; that the band were afraid of becoming beige or fading out of sight, and thus latched on to every music trend currently going. And there may be some truth in that. But they are also to be applauded for their constant evolution. Since their inception, they have never put out two albums that sound the same and keep challenging themselves to try things that may not please the masses (take Everyday Life, their most experimental and lowest selling LP to date). They’ve dabbled with synths and dance music before, but never have they reached for the stars (quite literally) like this.
-
The Needle Drop
2021: A Space Flawedyssey.
-
Aural Fixation
Given that nothing on Music of the Spheres sounds outright offensive, though, Max Martin’s melodic mathematics were crunched just fine: It just appears that sometimes, Coldplay was left out of the calculations.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments