Coldplay will return with its first new music since 2019 next Friday with “Higher Power,” a new single produced by Max Martin — the most successful songwriter-producer of the last 25 years.
It would not be unreasonable to expect that an album will be following sometime in the coming months as well.
The group posted on social media: “Higher Power is a song that arrived on a little keyboard and a bathroom sink at the start of 2020. It was produced by Max Martin who is a true wonder of the universe. It’s out on Friday 7 May. Love c, g, w & j.”
The announcement confirms fan rumors that have circulated since last week, when cryptic billboards around the world pointed to a mysterious website called alienradio.fm. Fans managed to decipher the letter-like symbols to uncover the song title and release date.
The band used a teaser campaign for “Everyday Life,” its last album, as well: From the visuals, a 1919 image of guitarist Jonny Buckland’s great-grandfather’s band serves as the album cover and the official publicity photo, to the 500 manually typed and hand-signed postcard notes to fans around the world to the tracklist reveal via classified ads in the U.K. hometown newspapers of Coldplay’s members (Flintshire, Exeter, Southampton and Fife) along with other local publications in 10 countries.
It was also a cost-effective one. Consider that the band was able to sidestep an expensive photo shoot by superimposing themselves onto an image owned by one of its members; that its letter-writing campaign only required the price of postage; or that its classified spent was a mere $25,000,PvNewhas learned. Even its music video consists of grainy footage shot by hand of frontmanChris Martinperforming new song “Orphans” in various New York City locales and in full view of unsuspecting pedestrians. In addition, a sniping campaign targeted 30 cities in 21 countries and five continents.
