Exclusive: Coldplay: “When things appear overwhelmingly positive, that’s often because it’s what the singer needs most”

As affable as Chris Martin is famed to be, today, he isn’t quite in the headspace to open up about Coldplay’s upcoming 10th album, ‘Moon Music’. At least, not at first. With this being his first interview for the record, he hasn’t yet verbally delved into the emotional genesis of the life-affirming opus. Forever self-deprecating, he doesn’t want to seem “pretentious” or to pretend to appear “cooler than he really is” – “especially in the NME!” he laughs.

• READ MORE: Coldplay – ‘Moon Music’ review: a love-fuelled exercise in resilience

“I don’t know if I want to put myself on that chopping block right now,” he admits, talking via Zoom from the band’s LA studio. “I’ve gotten worse and worse at describing songs over the years. I’d rather they just spoke for themselves.”

Still, warm with a smile, he finds his bearings via some pleasantries and invites us into an extended chat. It’s what you’d expect from the Coldplay frontman – tender and guarded, yet still the genial master of ceremonies; the shy, nerdy indie kid who conquered the world one stadium at a time and recently held Glastonbury in the palm of his hand. Loaded with impossibly good vibes and even a bloody Michael J Fox cameo, their record-breaking fifth headline slot saw Worthy Farm’s house band deliver a blockbuster set that bordered on the surreal. Sure, it was a lot and the show had its critics, but Martin doesn’t care.

“Right now, and since about 2008, if something lands in me as a song or as a good idea and it feels authentic, we’ll do it,” he admits. “It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. It’s very liberating, and it was probably started by Brian Eno’s philosophy when he came in to rebuild us. Since then, if I find something true and exciting, then we’ll go for it. It has led us to some really weird and amazing places.”

He continues: “In a way, [Fox] being there at Glastonbury reminded us what the whole spirit of the band and the festival is: trying to find the joy. And when you can’t find it, you need to have some good tools to go looking for it.”

“Any thought that we’re just a special group of people… just no. We’re just ordinary humans like everybody else”

Ever since Eno produced their fourth album ‘Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends’, the band have been driven by his commandments to remain “true, curious and open-minded”. That’s all been building up to ‘Moon Music’: a record made to “find the joy” and pumped full of enough of that stadium-filling loving feeling to make it the most ‘Coldplay’ Coldplay album.“That’s a nice way to describe it,” replies Martin. “It’s nice to be both an adjective and a noun, but I think we’ve earned that privilege!”

The last time NME spoke to Martin, we found him getting through a “questioning time of his life” as he overcame a “really hard time” of existential crisis with his past and the wider world. Do overly joyous acts like Glastonbury and this album help him make sense of all that?

“Yes, in the context of, ‘It’s very easy to be not happy’,” says Martin. “In a way, it’s a band manifesto: These are the things that helped me every day to not be super overwhelmed or super down.

“When things appear overwhelmingly positive, that’s so often because it’s what the singer needs most. My head tends to fill with so much negativity that over the years – in fact from the very beginning – music has been the place where I find a light and an explanation for some of the more challenging things in my life, or the people’s lives that I see.”

The path to the bright side runs throughout ‘Moon Music’. The gossamer opening title track finds Martin “trying to trust in the heaven’s above”, asking, “Is anyone out there? I’m close to the end… I just need a friend”. Via the state of the nation address of ‘We Pray’, the Lennon-indebted open-hearted anthem ‘All My Love’ and the cinematic full-stop of ‘One World’, he travels the gamut and eventually concludes that “in the end, it’s just love”.

As Martin puts it: “‘Moon Music’ is kind of the story of waking up in the morning and feeling terrible about yourself, terrible about the world – depressed, isolated, separate, alone, and not able to be yourself.

“Through the album, it’s a journey to feeling the complete opposite at the end of the day.”

TThe boundaries of Coldplay aren’t fixed to Martin and his university pals Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion. Ever since Rihanna jumped on ‘Princess Of China’ back in 2011, the band have opened up their prism of pop to feature the likes of Tove Lo, Selena Gomez, Jacob Collier and K-pop powerhouse BTS across their records.

‘Moon Music’ is no different, with guest turns from Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna, Tini and Ayra Starr – all helmed by producer and pop Midas, Max Martin. “I would say that the audition process for songs is really hard now, because Max Martin is here,” offers Martin. “For any of the songs to get on the album, they had to go through a sort of X Factor 2010 audition process.”

Is the Coldplay frontman more of a Simon Cowell or Louis Walsh?

“I think I’m a cross between the two – with a bit of Sharon maybe!”

Now there’s an image. Anyway, Afrobeats don Starr passed her audition to feature on the disco-indebted ‘Good Feelings’ with flying colours. The song is inspired by Jonas Carpignano’s acclaimed film Mediterranea – the story of two migrant friends who leave Africa and cross the sea to find a new life in Italy.

“Music has been the place where I find a light and an explanation for some of the more challenging things in my life”

“The song is really supposed to be a phone call between a couple that’s separated by an ocean,” Martin tells us. “All of our royalties from that song are going to refugee charity Choose Love. Like you said, it’s a very ‘Coldplay’ Coldplay album, so even when we’re singing about extremely stressful situations, it’s important to me that it’s still trying to find the light in that situation.

“In my experience, criticising and aggressively accusing hasn’t worked, so I’d rather look at a situation that is very difficult and see a hope in there somewhere.”

Martin chose Starr to be the voice on the end of the line because, “Number one: she’s brilliant, and number two: she’s Nigerian. It would maybe work with an English person, but it wouldn’t be the same.” The remits for guesting on ‘Moon Music’ were simple: “Is it the person the song wants?”, “Is it someone Coldplay can give wider exposure to?”, and “Do they come from a completely different place to us?”

“On our records, we’re covered for middle-aged white guys,” the frontman admits. “We don’t need any more of them, really. It’s fun to expand the band into other cultures, countries, genders and sexualities. That’s really what we believe in.”

It all comes back again to authenticity. Take ‘We Pray’ – a cross-cultural, genre-defying battle cry against an increasingly hostile and divisive world in the hope that “love will shelter us from our fears”. It’s a message that means a whole lot more coming from Mercury-winning British rap icon Little Simz, Nigerian juggernaut Burna Boy, Palestinian-Chilean musician Elyanna and Argentinian singer Tini rather than a middle-aged white guy. “It would just fall apart if it didn’t have the others on,” says Martin.

Aware of their privilege, Coldplay take the time to host a party with local talent whenever they visit another country. “It’s amazing how much talent there is everywhere,” says Martin of their United Nations of pop. “It’s also humbling because you realise that we are beneficiaries of having been born English and being able to play everywhere. That comes off the back of extraordinarily awful colonialism.

“Any thought that we’re just a special group of people… just no. We’re just ordinary humans like everybody else, who happen to be born here where the language that we sing in happens to be understood in more countries than Finnish is. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

The more artists they meet, the more enter the Coldplay universe, “because it reflects the actual world”. Adopting a love of K-pop from his goddaughter and, by his own admission, NME coverage, the band had BTS feature on ‘My Universe’ from prequel album ‘Music Of The Spheres’. To Martin, it’s a natural fit. “It’s not My Bloody Valentine, it’s not indie, but it’s equally great because they’re passionate, driven people working in a way that we couldn’t do. We’re lucky that we get to mix it all together.”

He devours music. During our chat, he waxes lyrical about discovering Kneecap through NME, the “genius” of Peggy Gou and his love of the new Bad Seeds album, ‘Wild God’. “Do you want me to show you something really funny?” he asks after discussing the latter, before quickly disappearing off camera for a good minute or more, gleefully returning with an upsettingly creepy life-size puppet of Nick Cave that he fetches from his closet. For context, Martin tells us, the band’s studios are adorned with plenty to inspire them – from Nelson Mandela sketches and paintings from his mother’s native Zimbabwe to words of wisdom from collaborators. Then, there’s this. “Isn’t that cool?” he chuckles. “That’s our Nick Cave idol. I have to keep it hidden, because it scares people if it’s late at night.”

“I’ve always loved Liam Gallagher. He’s always free to come round my house for tea and we’ll have lasagne”

Effigies aside, Martin looks to others to keep him on his toes. Take Fontaines D.C., for example. “With competitiveness and professional jealousy, I feel very lucky that it very quickly alchemises into just being inspired by someone and then being a fan of them,” he says, buzzing with admiration. “When Fontaines or Little Simz come along, you’re just reminded that you can never phone it in. Even if you’re making something that you think no one is going to like, you have to be so sure that you do, and that you poured every last ounce of energy into it.

“You know that when they made ‘Starburster’, no one was phoning that in. When I hear that song or IDLES, I’m like, ‘Shit!’ We’re not just talking about bands; we’re talking about Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Beyoncé – anyone that you can feel is just working so hard.”

His love of IDLES was even rewarded when, earlier this year, frontman Joe Talbot asked if they could take the ‘Yellow’ video and transform it with AI so it looks like Martin is singing along to ‘Grace’ for a music video. “I said, ‘Joe, are you sure you want to do this with Coldplay? You’re in IDLES!’” he laughs. “But I find that what’s so beautiful about the music community now – there tends to be much more love and respect among artists, regardless of genre, just based on talent and truth.”

Most bands have had their fair share of feuds in their day, but Martin hasn’t got time for the drama. “I’m sorry, this is why I feel bad talking to NME, because beef is your bread and butter!” He’s right, and we’re always hungry. “We don’t do beef,” he apologises. “I tried beef once in the NME where I said one mean thing about [Primal Scream’s] Bobby Gillespie in the year 2000 and I still feel terrible about it. I would apologise to him if I saw him. I’m just not a beefer!”

Even Liam Gallagher, who once said Martin “looks like a geography teacher” and that he found Coldplay fans to be “boring and ugly and don’t look like they’re having a good time”, has mellowed. They came together for a monumental and emotional performance of ‘Live Forever’ at Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester concert in 2017, and the Oasis frontman told him: “I take back everything I ever said about you.”

“I’ve always loved Liam,” smiles Martin. “He blows hot and cold, but he’s always free to come round my house for tea and we’ll have lasagne…”

IIt won’t surprise you to learn that self-confessed fanboy Martin is also rather excited about Oasis’ supersonic return next year. “That reunion showed what music is all about,” he tells us. “It just exists to make people happy; for the people that want it. I felt really great that they decided to do that.”

Of course, not everyone was happy – many fans were left furious at being kept in online ticket queues for hours to be met with inflated costs due to dynamic pricing. The band say they had nothing to do with the decision, and it’s currently under official investigation. Coldplay are having none of that. In fact, their upcoming UK stadium shows – including a record-breaking 10-night run at Wembley – will see 10 per cent of the band’s profits going to the Music Venue Trust.

The charity have been campaigning for a mandatory levy for £1 of every ticket sold to a gig at arena level and above to go back into the grassroots, at a time when the scene faces “disaster” with around two venues closing per week in the UK. Enter Shikari took it upon themselves to do it, and now Coldplay are taking it to the next level. “The band’s support really will stop venues closing, make tours happen and bring the joy of live music to thousands of people,” said MVT CEO Mark Davyd. Even if you hate Coldplay, you can’t deny this is a classy move.

Martin tells us that he put his plan into action when he became aware of the situation at the tail-end of last year. “I’d just assumed The Leicester Charlotte would be fine,” he says. “I didn’t think there was an issue because I didn’t think about it. It was around COVID that you started to hear about this or that venue having to close. I thought, ‘Oh, we played all those venues, Oasis played all those venues – these are important’.”

Does it bother him that if venues continue to disappear, we may never see another Coldplay?

“I think a lot of people would be happy about that! The truth is that playing live is an important connection. It doesn’t bother me that there might not be another Coldplay, but it does bother me that there might not be acts that are free to start on the bottom rung and work all the way up – so that by the time they get to stadiums, they are really good. You can’t just jump into that. With all of the artists that are playing stadiums next year, it’s no coincidence that all of them started in a van, driving around and playing pubs: Oasis, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, the truth is all there. Taylor Swift has probably played more than anyone in tiny Nashville venues and county fairs.”

And, as Teesside noiseniks Benefits once put it, there’s nothing wrong with staying on the third rung.

“No, there’s nothing wrong with staying on the first rung either. Our first tour manager, God bless him, was happiest with a bag of trucker’s speed, some beer, £50 profit and a sticky floor. As soon as I started talking about having a piano, he was out! And that’s great.”

“We’ve finally got an album that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to put in the same room as my favourite albums”

This tour also marks the beginning of the end, of sorts. The last time Martin spoke to NME, he said that Coldplay would release their final album in 2025, later revealing a plan for the band’s catalogue to end after 12 albums. Well, we’re one year off now, is that still the plan?

“Yes, it is 12 albums for sure, but we’re going to be a bit later than that,” he says. “There’s one more thing, which is a musical. [That’s] album number 11, but that might have to come out after album 12 because of how long musicals take to animate.

“Our last single is on this album, and that’s called ‘All My Love’. That’s the last ‘single’ single. We have the musical thing, then an album just called ‘Coldplay’, which is the final one. I think that will be a year late – I know it will be.”

Now at 47 years old, having a finish line in sight for Martin is only adding to his compulsion to make the most of the final lap. “The 12 album thing is very real, and it’s a nice feeling,” he tells us. “It doesn’t mean we won’t tour or finish some compilation things or outtakes or whatever. It just means that the main story is told. That’s just what feels really right. Just knowing that’s happening supercharges all the work we’re doing now.

“A combination of that 12 album deadline plus working with Max Martin means that we’re approaching everything with the same, if not more, hunger than right at the beginning. You don’t want to dilute the early stuff too much.”

Admitting that “it’s not about achievement anymore”, the frontman feels driven by the question of “what are we supposed to do” and promises that by the time the arc is complete and the 12th album is out there “everything will make sense”.

“To the people that might be freaked out when you do a song with BTS, or freaked out when we dropped the acoustic guitar: don’t worry, it’ll all make sense in the end,” he promises to the fans still pining for “when they woz good” back in the days of ‘Yellow’ and ‘Shiver’.

And what will life look like for Coldplay and Chris Martin after that final album?

“Touring, curating. What Liam [Gallagher] has just done with ‘Definitely Maybe’ has reignited that album. We will get to a point where it will be fun to not re-release but remember the earlier stuff and enjoy it again and do things specific to those periods. I have an idea for another type of show that’s more of a hotch-potch of everything. Maybe it’s not always about trying to be in stadiums, but you can do small things where you try and play the odd songs. I think it would also be nice to help younger artists a bit.”

There you have it, folks – the plan for the end of the multi-million album-shifting Coldplay machine as you know it. And Martin is very much looking forward to spending his latter years in the backseat. “It’s like when someone becomes a football pundit and stops trying to score goals,” he says, excited about becoming the Gary Lineker of music, albeit without the crisps. “I feel that within a few years, it might go a bit more that way for myself. Not right now. Right now I’m super hungry and so excited to go to work every day. It’s such a clear picture of what we’re supposed to be doing.”

You can see why he’s reticent to talk about the inspiration behind his music, especially when it’s the means to an end of a coping mechanism – and now it’s a very real end. Coldplay has given Chris Martin a home, a purpose, a tonic, and a galaxy of fans, artists and friends as his family. As he sang on debut album ‘Parachutes’’ opening track ‘Don’t Panic’: “All that I know, there’s nothing here to run from, because everybody here’s got somebody to lean on”.

“Finishing on ‘Moon Music’, I’m so grateful for the people around this album and the songs that have arrived,” ends Martin. “I don’t know where they come from, I never know where they come from, but I’m like, ‘Wow, we’ve finally got an album that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to put in the same room as my favourite albums.”

Coldplay release ‘Moon Music’ on October 4 via Parlophone, before touring in summer 2025.

Listen to Chris Martin’s exclusive playlist to accompany his NME interview below on Spotify and here on Apple Music

The post Exclusive: Coldplay: “When things appear overwhelmingly positive, that’s often because it’s what the singer needs most” appeared first on NME.