Review Revue: Coldplay’s “Paradise”

Robbie Daw | September 12, 2011 2:10 pm

This morning we noted that Coldplay’s new single “Paradise” is a far moodier affair than previous single “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall,” with dramatic strings and chords and just the right touch of melancholy for the onset of the fall season. In other words, we dug it! But what did the rest of the Internet have to say about the second single from Mylo Xyloto? Head below for our roundup of critics’ opinions on the track. :: HitFix notes, “I find the electronic clap track unnervingly cheap as an arena-rock device, but if Coldplay’s design was to make a song that gets butts up out of the seats, they’ve got it.”

:: Los Angeles Times blog Pop & Hiss heard something familiar with the tune: “Like most things Coldplay, it sticks within a very specific sonic realm; it’s immediately identifiable as a Coldplay song; Chris Martin croons about a woman longing to escape her life for paradise, and it features one of the band’s instantly sticky choruses.”

:: Prefixmag concurred: “It’s a typical slice of anthemic balladry from Chris Martin and his band, with his heavy falsetto to the fore, plenty of strings thrown in, and a hugely bombastic chorus. In other words, petty much business as usual for Coldplay.”

:: Entertainment Weekly‘s Music Mix liked what they heard: “A kinder, gentler song than the more bombastic ‘Teardrop,’ it still delivers a pretty powerful melodic punch.”

:: MTV Buzzworthy points out that “Chris Martin stays away from baby-making lyrics in favor of an emotional story.”

:: Holy Moly! also gave the song a thumbs-up: “When we said Coldplay’s last single was good, you were all like, ‘Huh?’ and we were all like, ‘Uh huh’, and you were all like, ‘No way.’ So please try not to think badly of us when we say that Coldplay’s new single ‘Paradise’ has also registered strongly on the does-not-suck-ometer.”

:: Spin points out the following: “Coldplay frontman Chris Martin says in a press release the band started writing their new album after listening to Blur’s ‘Sing,’ which appears on the U.K. version of the Damon Albarn-led British popsters’ 1991 debut album Leisure… And in fact, ‘Paradise”=; is built around slowly rotating orchestration that quite a bit resembles the early Blur track’s hypnotic chords. Martin steps back out in front on the more traditionally stately, piano-driven verses, but the swooning, impressionistic hook again recalls some of that influential Albarn group’s art-school leanings.”

:: Says Paste, “Chris Martin, who cites early Blur as the song’s chief inspiration, delivers a hooky falsetto chorus consisting of the repetition of ‘para-para-paradise,’ lacing the Brian Eno-treated sea of sound with an lighter-than-air pop sheen.”

:: Britscene chimed in with this: “You can definitely imagine this tune being featured on movie soundtracks and TV commercials as it has this well crafted Coldplay anthem feel, with a string arrangement and solid progression.”

:: Finally, Stereogum called “Paradise” a “grandiose cut with a bare, pretty melody accented by a chorus of strings.”

What do you think of “Paradise”? Absolutely love it? Already deleted from your memory? Let us know below, or on Facebook and Twitter.