Look at the stars (and your other constituent parts)…
[Video]
[5.62]
Ian Mathers: I love the smell of #brand #synergy in the morning.
[4]
Oliver Maier: Over the last decade Coldplay albums have alternated between big glitter cannons and entries that present as more subdued and considered, even as they maintain the sense of scale (another way of thinking about this dichotomy: Mylo Xyloto and Kaleidoscope have features on them, Ghost Stories and Everyday Life do not). “My Universe” comes right on schedule for the switch back to the former and, wouldn’t you know it, BTS fit like a glove. Not that that should surprise anyone, since their music meanders along a similar path, opting for anodyne joy as the default and occasionally dipping into puppy-dog-eyes melancholy. You get the feeling that both parties want to be taken seriously as artists, but not so much that they’ll ever stop making unserious music. Still, as unserious tunes go, this one is pretty well-constructed, and frankly I am always won over by a vocoder.
[6]
Nortey Dowuona: The fuzzy ’80s synths under Chris Martin’s howl sound exciting. Then the verse begins. But once Those Synths return, it’s spellbinding, and when the BTS Bois join with a nice lil talkbox, it gets better. The rappers bounce off the dull verse, opening it up to take us to the chorus and higher and higher into the stratosphere — THEN THE SYNTHS COME BACK!
[7]
John S. Quinn-Puerta: It’s impossible to tell if Max Martin is still blinded by last year’s lights or just thoroughly stuck in the early 2010s, but regardless, the production feels somewhere between a year and a decade out of date. It’s spun-sugar sweet with just as little substance: a pretty thing easily forgotten. And though I risk dating myself here, the only thing recognizably Coldplay is Chris Martin’s vocal, the song crumbling under the weight of a strong back catalog. BTS’s contributions lift it almost by default.
[5]
Juana Giaimo: If I thought a third generic feel-good single by BTS was unnecessary, this one directly annoys me. Of course they had to collaborate with Coldplay, the kings of extra-positive songs; maybe not so surprisingly, Chris Martin sounds more uplifting than any of them.
[4]
Scott Mildenhall: It’s over ten years since the welcome shock of “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall”, meaning Coldplay will soon have been making this kind of music for the majority of their career. Still this amorphous entity stands, stretching out across time, ever adapting to survive; still Coldplay write lightly mystical odes to its permanence. Love is the thing, and the thing is cosmic. As cynicism goes, it’s appealingly human.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: Honestly, this is as good a “Coldplay goes moderately big dance pop” single as they’re likely to release, and if BTS’s presence doesn’t add anything other than a slot in the top ten, it doesn’t hurt. But for the record, while acknowledging that they co-wrote it, their actual presence is inconsequential. “My Universe” doesn’t mean anything, but it has use — it’s uplifting in a corny way, but uplift is uplift. The chorus is catchy. It’s somewhat dated, but it’s better to be a little retro-synth-cool than fall into the pop uncanny valley. I can imagine almost anyone from any age or demographic liking this. I can’t bring myself to hate something so eager to please and so good at it. Plus Chris Martin’s voice is always best at its emptiest, and there’s a shiny universe sky full of stars galaxy of empty before and behind him.
[7]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The brightest, shiniest musical object I’ve ever heard. I have no feelings about it other than thinking that the breakdown at the end rules in a very ’90s U2 fashion.
[5]