Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

I bought the much anticipated Coldplay album quite over 2 weeks ago. Unlike Parachutes or A Rush of Blood, it's taken me many listens to really form an opinion.

This album is being hyped as Coldplay's experimental album, like Achtung Baby was for U2. Coldplay themselves haven't come out and said this, but the media is definitely playing up that angle. In fact, according the UK's Sun Magazine, the group wasn't even speaking 2 years ago. This album, in collaboration with Brian Eno, put the group back on track.

Coldplay released 2 songs prior to the release of the album - Violet Hill, first as a free download through their website, and Viva La Vida. If this album is their experiment, these 2 cuts are possibly the least surprising. These songs are great, don't get me wrong. But of all the cuts on the album, these are probably the most familiar.

It's debatable about whether this is actually an "experimental" album or not. One could say that simply because the group experimented with new instruments (Persian Santur!), new chords like the piano riff on Lovers in Japan, new sonic templates, new vocal ranges, etc. that this is an experiment.

Artists continually have to challenge themselves. The sound that was new 1 year ago is no longer unexpected, no longer astonishing. Especially after playing that song night after night.

What is creativity but not experimentation?

I read that The Ting Tings never imagined that their album would become so widely known. That they were just making music that they liked and knew their friends would like to dance to. But now they actually have a hit on their hands and a fan-base and a public that will demand certain things from them moving forward.

I can only imagine the pressure and influence they may receive if they choose to make another album....pressure they didn't have on the first album.

This is perhaps what Coldplay faced after Parachutes, still one of their best albums.

This is the conundrum of the successful and celebrated. The music they make is no longer solely their possession. Ownership is partly with the labels, they want to continue to make profits. But more importantly, and metaphysically, ownership also lies with the fans. We, who choose to listen to Coldplay on our commute to work, on our ipod while jogging, or on the plane to see the family. It becomes part of OUR life. It influences our mind our emotions, our ideas, our life. We feel possessive of these songs. And we have every right to do so.

So yes, the artist is in a bit of a pickle.

How far off can he or she go to stay fresh, to stay passionate? One may speculate that that Coldplay chose Brian Eno to produce this album not only for his talent (big talent), but because they saw that he could challenge well-known artists who are in this stage of their career (U2, The Talking Heads). There are many other producers out there that they could have chose. But they didn't. Eno has a record of pushing the artist to their boundaries (not his boundaries), out of their usual formula and into new territory, and the artists are better for it.

This album requires faith for the listener. And I have to say, with a bit of faith and a bit of patience (a nice long listen or two), this album will NOT disappoint. It's not so much of a departure for Coldplay, it's an evolution. And the listener will have to evolve with them. But if you can go on that journey, you too will be better for it.