Coldplay: A Head Full Of Dreams

Rating: ***

The Brits are back. On the heels of Adele’s 25 comes Coldplay’s latest album, A Head Full of Dreams, a bouncy, ‘What, me worry?’ collection. This is the first release for the Brit quartet since frontman Chris Martin divorced from Gwyneth Paltrow but the overall mood is trippy, even gooey, optimism. Paltrow even lends her vocals to Everglow, on which Martin compares his ex to a diamond. It also has soaring melodies, peppy dance beats and Martin at his exuberant best. In tune with current trends, cel­­­e­­brity collaborations are aplenty, with Beyonce’s backing vocals and Noel Gallagher’s heroic guitar on Up&Up. She also appears on the R&B-loaded Hymn for the Weekend. Yet, it is also symbolic of Martin, as a newly-single man stepping on to the dance floor to find love again, as on You Make Me Feel Like I’m Alive Again. Taken together with the slinky disco beat of Adventure of a Lifetime, Fun, which also features Paltrow, Amazing Day, a stirring ode to post-divorce romance, and Birds—typical Britpop with a burst of intensity, the Brits are truly back.