NEWS
Coldplay
James Marcus Haney*U.K. superstars Ed Sheeran and Coldplay joined forces Tuesday night (Oct. 12) to perform each other's hits at the band's new album launch event.
Held at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, the British rock band celebrated the upcoming release of their Max Martin-produced ninth studio album Music of the Spheres, due Friday via Parlophone/Atlantic Records. They enlisted the help of the English pop singer to sing their 2005 hit "Fix You," which peaked at No. 18 on Billboard's Adult Alternative Airplay chart.
Later, Chris Martin & co. returned the favor by strumming along to Sheeran's 2017 smash "Shape of You," which ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 nonconsecutive weeks and remains the most-streamed song on Spotify with nearly 3 billion streams.
Both acts have recently scored Hot 100 No. 1s with K-pop supergroup BTS. Sheeran co-penned "Permission to Dance,"which was released on the same CD as the band's other leader "Butter," which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in July. Meanwhile, Coldplay and BTS took the throne last week when their out-of-this-world collaboration "My Universe" landed at No. 1, earning Coldplay its second chart-topper and BTS its sixth. "My Universe" was released as the second single from Music of the Spheres, which the band has been teasing with mysterious lyric billboards in London's Westfield Shepherd's Bush shopping center that spelled out its eighth track "Biutyful."
In promotion of the album, Coldplay and Amazon Music also hosted an immersive two-day event starting last Friday called "The Atmospheres," which, according to a press release, was a "custom-built installation [where] fans will be transported to The Spheres – the distant solar system that plays host to the band’s latest album, where each of the twelve tracks is twinned with a different planet." The sensory experience was held at four venues in London, New York, Berlin and Tokyo.
Watch their Sheeran and Coldplay's performances of "Fix You" and "Shape of You" below.
Fontaines D.C. have teamed up with Rosalía for their new collaboration, Where Is Gone?.
The song features on the Irish rock band's forthcoming album, Dopamine Chamber, which arrives on Friday (16.10.26). For guitarist Carlos O’Connell, working with the Spanish superstar is particularly special because of his own Spanish roots.
He explained: “I’ve admired Rosalía ever since her debut album, which I thought was absolutely beautiful.
“What excited me most was the way she continued to preserve Spain's musical traditions, something that felt spiritually connected to what we've been trying to achieve with Irish music. Having roots in both countries, it's been really special to witness. "She's an artist who has continued to amaze me at every point in her career.”
Frontman Grian Chatten has also described the collaboration with Rosalía as one of the most memorable achievements of his career.
He revealed that he felt "humbled" when she agreed to lend her voice to the band's album.
Speaking to NPR, Grian said: “I've always felt there's something almost like a single big idea that I'm personally trying to communicate to the world before I get old and die, if that makes sense. There's one thing I think I'll spend my life trying to express. I have a feeling she has a similar outlook. … I mean, she's an amazing arranger, composer and lyricist. It means so much that she wanted to sing on something we'd put together. It's definitely one of the highlights of my career.”
Rosalía's links to Irish rock music extend beyond Fontaines D.C. She also offered inspiration and helped develop the Spanish lyrics for U2's The Mirror Maker (Rosalía), a track from their forthcoming album, Carnaval de Luz.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last week, she spoke about frontman Bono, saying: “I don't know him personally, but he sent me a text explaining that he was working on a new project and had written a song called The Mirror Maker."
Rosalía joked that Bono had invented a few words of his own.
She recalled telling him: “I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I told him he could create his own language if he wanted to.”
She described the opportunity to collaborate with the 66 year old music veteran as a real privilege.
She added: “Bono is a legend.
“It's amazing.”
Bono recently revealed that he was worried about seeming like a stalker when he reached out to Rosalía to ask whether he could name the song after her.
