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 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.
Music of the Spheres is the band's second concept album after 2011's Mylo Xyloto. The album explores pop, pop rock, space rock, space music and ambient influences. It is set in a fictional planetary system called The Spheres, which contains nine planets, three natural satellites, a star and a nebula, with each one of them corresponding to a certain track on the record. According to lead singer Chris Martin, its concept and themes were not only based on Mylo Xyloto, but also inspired by the Star Wars film franchise, which made him and the other band members wonder what other artists could be like across the universe, while also using the planets as a canvas to explore human experience.
In anticipation for the album, Coldplay released "Higher Power" and "My Universe" as singles, with the former being nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, and the latter being nominated for the same award at the following year's ceremony. "My Universe" also debuted at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Coldplay the first British group in history to achieve the feat. "Let Somebody Go" was later released as the third official single on 7 February 2022. "Coloratura", "People of the Pride", "Biutyful" and a live version of "Humankind" were served as promotional singles.
Music of the Spheres received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom criticised the album's overtly pop sensibilities and style. The album's closing song, "Coloratura", however, was acclaimed for its lengthy, unconventional structure and production. The album was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, marking the band's third nomination in both categories. It became the first album of the 2020s to debut atop the UK Albums Chart with more than 100,000 units. To support the record, Coldplay embarked on the Music of the Spheres World Tour and released an accompanying concert film. It was the first volume of the Music of the Spheres series, the second being Moon Music (2024).Moon Music, Music of the Spheres Vol. II subtitle:
Background The idea for a space-themed record had been envisioned by the band since 2010, when lead vocalist Chris Martin proposed a project of building "a solar system", as stated in a blog published by the band, named "Roadie #42". This project eventually led to the creation of the universe for Coldplay's 2011 album Mylo Xyloto, which would go on to inspire the Music of the Spheres universe as well.. 5:50 in the video. At the time Everyday Life was released, in November 2019, one of the hints was hidden within the bifold of the booklet of the physical vinyl and digibook editions of the album, in which a black and white billboard in a field advertises "Music of the Spheres". In the bottom left corner, smaller writing says "Coldplay coming soon". This, combined with the band's history of teasers for future material, fueled speculation about Music of the Spheres's themes and release date. Other hints to future material were purportedly hidden within song lyrics and music videos from the Everyday Life era.
Recording According to bassist Guy Berryman, when the band "made [2019's] Everyday Life, we knew we weren't planning on touring it, so that directed the course of that album musically. The idea was always to follow that up with Music of the Spheres, which definitely would be toured. So the new album was created with one eye on the live performances. I think that shaped the overall energy levels and song selections for the album". The record was produced by Max Martin, whom the band called "a true wonder of the universe". Their first work together was in the single "Orphans". He met Chris during a Rihanna concert in Sweden in 2016 and they started to share potential about possible collaborations, with the rest of the band sharing the same feeling and considering him as a "new band member" for the album.
Chris stated Max was very involved on most of the creative process, helping to decide which songs would be chosen as well. He added that "just before 'Higher Power', I'd done a whole session with him auditioning songs for a potential album". Drummer Will Champion noted one of the reasons of feeling certain relief while working with Max "is that he is very conscious of not filling too many gaps", with Berryman further adding that a sound "will not be impressive by just adding another layer of sound and another layer of sound", comparing it to a mix of "too many colors together, [but] you always end up with brown". They cited "Humankind" as an example, which was according to them was the hardest song to be recorded in the album, as the band "couldn't get the feel of it right until the end of the sessions".
Style and concept Music of the Spheres has been described as pop, pop rock, synth-pop, space rock, space music, electropop, soft rock, and ambient. Lead singer Chris Martin stated that the theme for the album was inspired by "wonder[ing] what musicians would be like across the universe" after watching the fictional Mos Eisley cantina band perform in Star Wars and making speculations in relation to outer space sounds.
The album is set in a fictional planetary system called The Spheres, which consists of nine planets, three natural satellites, one star and a nearby nebula. Each track on the album represents a celestial body from The Spheres. Following the album's track listing, they are: Neon Moon I ("Music of the Spheres"), Kaotica ("Higher Power"), Echo ("Humankind"), Kubik ("Alien Choir"), Calypso ("Let Somebody Go"), Supersolis ("Human Heart"), Ultra ("People of the Pride"), Floris ("Biutyful"), Neon Moon II ("Music of the Spheres II"), Epiphane ("My Universe"), Infinity Station ("Infinity Sign"), and Coloratura ("Coloratura"). Supersolis is the star at the centre of the system, and Coloratura is the Nebula. Each celestial body in The Spheres has its own language: EL 1 for Neon Moon I, Kaotican for Kaotica, Mirror Text for Echo, Qblok for Kubik, Aquamarine for Calypso, Supersolar for Supersolis, Voltik for Ultra, Bloom for Floris, EL 2 for Neon Moon II, Spheric for Epiphane, Infinitum for Infinity Station, and Coloraturan for Coloratura. An unnamed natural satellite orbits Echo, while both Neon Moons orbit Epiphane. A lost planet named Aurora is also part of the system, and although no song on the album represents it, fans have theorised that the short instrumental "A Wave", which was played at the end of concerts during the first leg of the Music of the Spheres World Tour and would later appear on the Full Moon edition of Moon Music, is connected to it. The artwork featuring the planetary system was created by Pilar Zeta, who had worked on Coldplay's previous two albums Everyday Life and A Head Full of Dreams (2015).
Martin uses the planets as a canvas to explore the human experience: "It's really another record about life as a human person, but given this freedom that comes when you pretend it's about other creatures in other places". Drummer Will Champion stated that Everyday Life was about making big questions personal, while Music of the Spheres promoted more about the purpose of the band in relation to humanity and manmade demarcations, saying: "We historically as a band tend to fill space". The album was promoted with the words "Everyone is an alien somewhere", which, according to Champion, was about people looking to what unites them, not to what separates them, saying: "From the perspective from another planet, we would be the aliens. We searched the perspective where we are all equal".
The fictional universe for Music of the Spheres is in part inspired by the universe created by the band for Mylo Xyloto, and, according to creative director Phil Harvey, features several references to it.. 6:29 in the video. One of these references may be the appearance of the Mylo Xyloto "silencers" in the music video for "My Universe".
Promotion On 23 April 2021, a post from an account titled 'Alien Radio FM' on social media released a set of coordinates (51°30'24.6"N 0°08'34.4"W) that led to Green Park in Piccadilly, London. The post included a photo of an advertisement at these coordinates with unknown bright neon purple characters set to a blue background. The characters were quickly decoded by fan sites and said "Coldplay Higher Power May Seven". Similar posts would follow, which all teased the lead single, "Higher Power".
On 29 April, Coldplay confirmed on their main social media accounts that a new single called "Higher Power" would in fact be released on 7 May. Branded as a form of "extraterrestrial transmission", the band previewed the video to French European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet aboard the International Space Station prior to its public release. Martin had stated that the theme for their upcoming music had been inspired by "wonder[ing] what musicians are like across the universe" after watching the fictional Mos Eisley cantina band perform in Star Wars.
After the promotion cycle of "Higher Power" was done, Harvey teased a possible announcement on 19 July 2021. During the next day, Coldplay revealed the album, its tracklist, and a trailer titled "Overtura" containing a snippet for each song. They also said that "Coloratura" would be released on 23 July, while the next official single would follow in September. On 13 September, Coldplay announced that their second single "My Universe" which features BTS, would be released on 24 September 2021. On 4 October 2021, Selena Gomez confirmed via Twitter that she is featured on "Let Somebody Go".
On 1 October 2021, Coldplay announced a one-off album launch show at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, in which they were introduced by Simon Pegg and joined on stage by Ed Sheeran, Fleur East and We Are King. Dakota Johnson was in attendance. Later that week, on 7 October 2021, Coldplay announced that an album pop-up event for Music of the Spheres, entitled "The Atmospheres", would be held in four cities across the world (Berlin, London, New York and Tokyo) on 15 and 16 October. In each city, there was a "custom-built installation" that enabled fans to "be transported to The Spheres – the distant solar system that plays host to the band's latest album, where each of the twelve tracks is twinned with a different planet." During the event, fans had the opportunity to "create their own alien language messages, snap selfies in the augmented reality photo booth, and even help to power the experience through bespoke kinetic walkways." According to the band, the event was made possible by partnering with Amazon Music.
World tour