A few years ago, Coldplay’s Chris Martin was feeling “depressed and overwhelmed.” He was in the final stages of his 10-year marriage to Gwyneth Paltrow, and he felt increasingly insecure about the music he was making. “I wasn’t looking at things in a healthy way,” he says.
ForeignEditorial
Coldplay’s seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams, is inspired by Rumi.
A few years ago, Coldplay’s Chris Martin was feeling “depressed and overwhelmed.” He was in the final stages of his 10-year marriage to Gwyneth Paltrow, and he felt increasingly insecure about the music he was making. “I wasn’t looking at things in a healthy way,” he says.
Then a friend gave him some books, including Man’s Search for Meaning, a memoir by psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, and a volume by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi. Martin says one poem, “The Guest House” — which suggests “inviting in” dark thoughts — helped him get through the period around his divorce. “It kind of changed my life,” he says. “It says that everything that happens to you is OK. The idea is to accept what happens to you and not run away from anything — and trust that things will blossom and become colourful.”
Martin features the poem in a psychedelic spoken-word section of Coldplay’s seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams (out now), which is all about his road back from anxiety and heartbreak. “It’s all true,” Martin says. “It’s about love and acceptance and embracing what happens to you. It’s quite a hippie album. All of our records were a journey to get to this one.”
Martin says that Coldplay’s last album, 2014’s spare Ghost Stories, was a “smaller record” — deliberately. “It frees you up to do whatever you want next — just look at Bruce Springsteen’s career.” Instead of touring behind Ghost Stories, the band stayed in the studio. “I was being sent so many songs from the universe that I said, ‘I’ve got to just keep recording,’” says Martin.
This time, Coldplay ratcheted up the ambition. They started work with Stargate, the Norwegian producers behind hits by Beyoncé and Rihanna. Nothing was off the table. “We wanted to marry all the music that we love, from Drake to Oasis,” says Martin. “There was a feeling that we don’t have anything to lose. We’re very comfortable now with the fact that we’re not for everybody.”
Martin’s favourite moment on the album sounds the least like Coldplay: “X Marks the Spot,” where he spits rhymes through a vocoder over drum loops. “Most of the instruments on that song didn’t exist when we made our first album,” Martin says. “People who want us to be a rock band might be disappointed, but I don’t think we really are a rock band.”
Last year, Martin sent fans into a panic when he suggested Coldplay’s next album would be their last. “I have no idea what’s going to happen,” he says now. “If one day we make another record, then that’s wonderful.” Then he clarifies: “We’re definitely not splitting up.”
– Courtesy Rolling Stone
FirstLooks
The first looks for Mawra Hocane-starrer, Sanam Teri Kasam, and Mohib Mirza and Sanam Saeed’s Bachana are out and while one has fascinated us with its intense vibe, the other has us somewhat perplexed.
Sanam Teri Kasam, that marks Mawra’s Bollywood debut opposite Telugu star Harshvardhan Rane, is dubbed as a musical love story but looks every bit passionate and deep. Adding to the intensity is the film’s tagline ‘A love story sealed with a curse’ making one wonder if the film’s plot will revolve around the supernatural. The poster features Mawra in the same outfit from her earlier shoot, which went viral on the Internet and brought the actress some serious flak for showing skin. The music for Sanam Teri Kasam has been composed by none other than Himesh Reshammiya and the film is slated for a January, 2016 release.
On the other hand is the first look for Bachana, a Pak-India collaboration of sorts with India’s BIG Film Entertainment co-producing the film. While the film is said to be a romantic thriller based around a road trip in Mauritius, the first poster is as vague as it can possibly be. It’s artistic, yes, with a man and a woman running into a foggy background but we would have preferred to see Sanam and Mohib’s first looks in the film. If the filmmakers were aiming at creating curiosity, they sure have fans intrigued. The film will release early next year and be amongst a string of films featuring Sanam, including Dobara Phir Se, Mah-e-Meer and Reham, all releasing around the same time.
