Coldplay “X & Y” Capitol
Records
Chris Martin has a lot to be happy about. Not only is he the
lead singer of one of the most successful bands in the world today,
but he married one of the most beautiful and talented American
actresses and had a baby girl with her. But the fact that
Martin’s life has been seemingly trouble-free recently might
be why Coldplay’s new album “X&Y” becomes
stale so quickly. Although the band starts varying its sound with
atmospheric synthesizers (with some help from Brian Eno),
’80s-inspired dance beats and bass lines that instantly feel
familiar, the lyrics are overly repetitive, with every song
preaching love, peace and living life to the fullest. All this
positivity becomes absolutely nauseating. By the seventh track,
“Speed of Sound,” which is also the first single off
the album, it becomes apparent that virtually every song on
“X&Y” has these same themes. Yet Martin seems
oblivious to his repetitiveness and continues to sing “My
song is love” in “A Message” and “I feel
love” in “Low,” inducing his listeners to doze
off. “Swallowed in the Sun” could very well replace
“Kumbaya” at a summer campfire. The lyrics also become
irksome because Martin writes them in question format, making him
sound like a 7-year-old who is too curious for his own good and
doesn’t know when to stop. But the album is not only bland
lyrically, it is also bland musically. Neither the melodies nor the
choruses manage to stick. Still, the main problem with
“X&Y” is Martin’s repetition of the mantra,
“If you never try, then you’ll never know.” While
Coldplay’s previous albums also featured similar
life-affirming lyrics, they were balanced by ones of despair sung
by Martin’s boyish yet bruised vocals. Martin’s lyrics
were most compelling on the band’s previous albums when they
juxtaposed first-person accounts of loss with a sense of hope, like
in “Amsterdam” from the album “A Rush of Blood to
the Head.” And as difficult as it may be to admit, sometimes,
we need the bad times to appreciate the good. -Angela
Lu