Alternate title: “What Coldplay Could Have Used on ‘Princess of China'”
[Video][Website]
[4.80]
W.B. Swygart: Where Kate Bush had a washing machine, Chris Martin has a worm. And he will carry that worm. Up hill and down dale, river deep and mountain high, Chris Martin will carry a worm. For you. For you, Chris Martin will carry a worm. And lo, three minutes or so in, the rest of Coldplay do pledge their troth in worm carrying also. Through the wind and rain, beyond the sleet and snow, Chris Martin, Drummy Q. Ogrepants and the other two will carry a worm. Such is their devotion. Then that piano starts going, and Chris Martin stops being in the picture, and the warmth and tenderness starts to come through, and I once more feel that, though Coldplay might not be great, they’re a pretty decent least worst option.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Ruminative piano chords perfunctorily adduce the weight-of-the-world sentiments, and it’s easy to praise them for a job well done.
[5]
Iain Mew: Some of my favourite Coldplay songs are slow, usually piano-led B-sides where they give their melodies room to breathe that the albums rarely allow. 2000’s “For You” remains the best example, but the current album campaign included “Moving to Mars,” which started off along similar relaxed lines and showed off the lower end of Chris Martin’s range to fine effect before blasting off to space-rock. “Atlas” is a single, soundtrack or no, so it’s a pleasant surprise that it’s a refinement of the formula of “Moving to Mars.” The verses find Martin at his huskiest, making the most of a vague series of suitably Hunger Games images of bows and arrows and fire, while “I’m about to explode” gives hints of what’s to follow. This time the take-off is no explosion, though, Jonny Buckland adding a thickening spread of guitar tone which turns gradually into a roar to match “I’ll carry your world.” It’s powerful, but it maintains the gorgeous grace of the rest of the song.
[8]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: I can’t pretend like I didn’t just thrust my fist upwards when Jonny Buckland stepped up to the plate near the song’s climax and took this whole song skywards. If Coldplay want to continue doing this for their entire career, I wouldn’t blame them for indulging the sound they’re best at. Fitting, isn’t it: a franchise writing songs for another franchise?
[7]
Madeleine Lee: Are you sure this is from the soundtrack to Catching Fire and not the pre-roll mobile network commercial?
[3]
Jonathan Bogart: As befits Coldplay’s financial and cultural success, this is an immersive sonic experience, with lots of details in the arrangement and production to lose yourself in. And Chris Martin moaning his meaningless inspirodrivel on top of it.
[5]
Brad Shoup: I may have to borrow Coldplay’s copy of Jeff Eubank’s A Street Called Straight. Mine’s stuck on my phone. The NyQuil drips down Martin’s pharynx as he applies a thin thematic coat to the film tie-in, a tie-in to a different and possibly unwritten film involving dragons, some breezy God-summoning, and the usual hug-the-pain-away white knighting. The inflection point comes when Martin doubles and digs; the drum pounds, and he becomes bored. I mentioned Eubank cos narrow pipes can pair with a thick vision; Coldplay’s vision is to rewrite “Ordinary World.”
[4]
Edward Okulicz: An ordinary “Ordinary World.”
[5]
Anthony Easton: You know, it’s such a cheap joke and a cliched position to hate Coldplay. It would make my life easier if I could write something contrary and smart about their skill or abilities, and not just pile on. But this is so portentous and dull, and Chris Martin is about as full of himself as his wife. I’m kind of okay loathing “Atlas.”
[2]
Jonathan Bradley: …shrugged.
[3]