Written by: Kiera Roedel | Copy Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content warning:<\/strong> this article contains references to police violence, war and suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nov. 22 was the fifth birthday of Coldplay\u2019s 2019 album \u201cEveryday Life.\u201d The project sticks with Coldplay\u2019s well-established pop-rock sound, but mixes in influences like classical, afrobeat and jazz, making it one of the band\u2019s most experimental releases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lyrically, \u201cEveryday Life\u201d focuses on unity between people, regardless of ethnic or national barriers. This is perhaps best showcased by the fact that the only-ever live performance of the full tracklist was streamed globally from the Amman Citadel in Jordan, though Coldplay themselves are British.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The album\u2019s 16 tracks, split into \u201csunrise\u201d and \u201csunset\u201d halves, have proved divisive among fans. Many proclaim certain songs as some of the band\u2019s best ever, while dismissing others as pointless filler. So, five years on, how does \u201cEveryday Life\u201d stack up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSunrise\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cEveryday Life\u2019s\u201d opener is a short instrumental track driven by calm, spare string music. It is compositionally simple and its lack of lyrics really count against it for me \u2014 not a favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChurch\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Considered by many to be the true opening track, \u201cChurch\u201d is one of the strongest on the album. Its almost four minutes are driven by a strong percussion line while lead singer Chris Martin weaves a love story that compares his significant other to a divine figure. Later in the song, Arabic vocals by guest Norah Shaqur bring the entire song together, and Martin\u2019s sing-rapped couplet at the end over them is nothing short of incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrouble in Town\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 The first appearance of this album\u2019s oft-discussed political themes. \u201cTrouble in Town\u201d condemns police violence with floaty yet strong piano-centric instrumentals and a profanity-laden recording depicting verbal abuse while a police officer detains a suspect. Not for everyone, but fantastic for those unfazed by its unique characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrokEn\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 A divisive song due to its style \u2014 an almost a capella gospel track \u2014 and a strange choice to follow up \u201cTrouble in Town.\u201d Its strong religious themes and direct references to God would not be out of place if sung by a church choir. I find it catchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDaddy\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 This song hits some harder than others. It is sung from the perspective of a child with an absent father figure, wondering where he has been and whether he will ever return. It is slow and ethereal throughout, opening with heartbeat sound effects before a somber piano melody begins a few seconds in. The emotion in this one is bare and painful, definitely a highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWOTW \/ POTP\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The sound of this demo track is defined by an acoustic guitar, quiet singing and birds chirping in the background. To me, it has almost no staying power and may as well have not been included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cArabesque\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The title here references a style of visual art involving intricate repeating patterns covering large surfaces. Similarly \u201cArabesque,\u201d one of the album\u2019s singles, discusses unifying the people, proclaiming that we \u201cshare the same blood.\u201d Its aggressive, percussive rhythm thumps along like a freight train, and the song is without a doubt in the top 3 best on the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I Need a Friend\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Another short, less-than-impressive track. Its slow, formless, layered vocals recall holiday carols, or more church-choir music, with a Spanish spoken-word segment inserted awkwardly at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGuns\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 Aggressive and biting, \u201cGuns\u201d begins the \u201csunset\u201d segment of the album and is perhaps the antithesis to the prior track. It is extremely political, referencing climate change, oppression of the working class, violent revolutions and the military-industrial complex. I love it for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOrphans\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The other single from \u201cEveryday Life,\u201d \u201cOrphans\u201d was a breakout hit and a song that many have likely heard already. It tells the struggles of a girl and her father who become refugees during the oppressive Syrian Civil War. Thematically and musically a masterpiece, this might be the objective best on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u00c8k\u00f3\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Calm and relaxed, the quaint and hopeful \u201c\u00c8k\u00f3\u201d shares the name of a town in southwest Nigeria. Honestly, it serves pretty well as a comfort song, but nothing special. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCry Cry Cry\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Angel Moon, Coldplay\u2019s alien vocalist who is really just a digital effect, sings along with Chris Martin throughout this deceptively optimistic song. It might have been good if its themes were better developed and it had more than a verse and a half of actual lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOld Friends\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Another slow, calm song with simple lyrics. It describes a childhood friend of Martin\u2019s who saved him from being hit by a car when they were riding bikes as kids. While the theme is heartfelt, the song isn\u2019t very engaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u0628\u0646\u06cc \u0622\u062f\u0645\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The Arabic title of this song is taken from a Persian poem, pronounced \u201cBani Adam.\u201d The majority of its lyrics are a verse from the poem, spoken softly in Arabic. A great idea, but it has almost two minutes of piano solo and was likely better suited to being a 90-second interlude rather than the over-3-minute full feature that \u201c\u0628\u0646\u06cc \u0622\u062f\u0645\u201d purports to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChampion of the World\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 To be blunt, this is far and away my favorite song on the album. Its lyrics begin with short anecdotes of the failures of the lead singer, going so far as to specifically reference suicide and gravestones. As the music slowly builds, the lyrics pull away from the depression, asserting that whatever happens, we are still here, and that is a success in itself. The song climaxes when Martin and drummer Will Champion sing in duet that \u201cgiving up won\u2019t work \/ Now I\u2019m riding on my rocket ship \/ And I\u2019m champion of the world.\u201d \u201cChampion of the World\u201d has the overwhelmingly positive theme and grandiose musical style that are hallmarks of recent Coldplay, and to me, it\u2019s probably their single greatest song in the past decade at least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEveryday Life\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The final song, bringing back earlier themes of the album like the similarities between and power vested within the people of the world. Musically spare but proud, it uses the same chord progression as the earlier \u201cChurch,\u201d which helps tie the album together. While a little unimpressive in the shadow of the previous song, \u201cEveryday Life\u201d is still an excellent closing track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, \u201cEveryday Life\u2019s\u201d occasional extremely strong tracks have their impact lessened somewhat by slow and underdeveloped songs that hold almost no significance to the overall styling of the record. Still, those strong tracks stand as some of the best in the history of Coldplay, and are each excellent on their own. Plus, \u201cEveryday Life\u2019s\u201d aesthetic is confident, with unique lyrical themes and experimental music styles strongly contributing to the album\u2019s identity. Lyrically and musically, Everyday Life shows what Coldplay can be when at its best, even if it is interspersed with a few less-than-amazing songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8\/10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contact the author at howlcopyeditor@mail.wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by: Kiera Roedel | Copy Editor Content warning: this article contains references to police violence, war and suicide. Nov. 22 was the fifth birthday of Coldplay\u2019s 2019 album \u201cEveryday Life.\u201d The project sticks with Coldplay\u2019s well-established pop-rock sound, but mixes in influences like classical, afrobeat and jazz, making it one of the band\u2019s most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4689,4682,4716,4701,4699,4719,4717,4679,4681,4704,4720,4705,4723,4722,4691,4690,60,4292,1480,2053,4715,4712,4710,4692,4714,4674,4702,4680,4721,4693,2322,50,4685,4696,4676,4289,4708,54,4711,4695,4718,1581,4698,4675,3197,1264,4686,4713,3813,4683,4706,4688,2039,4592,4707,4677,4684,4673,4687,4709,4694,4697,4700,4678,4703],"class_list":["post-21821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-acoustic","tag-amman-citadel","tag-angel-moon","tag-arabesque","tag-arabic","tag-bani-adam","tag-bicycles","tag-birds","tag-broken","tag-carols","tag-champion-of-the-world","tag-choir","tag-chord-progression","tag-chords","tag-chris-martin","tag-christianity","tag-christmas","tag-church","tag-climate-change","tag-coldplay","tag-comfort-music","tag-comfort-songs","tag-cry-cry-cry","tag-daddy","tag-eko","tag-ethnicity","tag-everyday-life","tag-gospel","tag-gravestones","tag-guitar","tag-guns","tag-holiday","tag-instrumental","tag-islam","tag-jordan","tag-lyrics","tag-military-industrial-complex","tag-music","tag-nigeria","tag-norah-shaqur","tag-orphans","tag-people","tag-percussion","tag-piano","tag-police-violence","tag-politics","tag-pop","tag-refugees","tag-religion","tag-religious","tag-revolutions","tag-rhythm","tag-rock","tag-spanish","tag-spoken-word","tag-strings","tag-suicide","tag-sunrise","tag-sunset","tag-syrian-civil-war","tag-trouble-in-town","tag-war","tag-when-i-need-a-friend","tag-will-champion","tag-wotw-potp"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21824,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821\/revisions\/21824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}