Are Coldplay Overrated? (and why do some people think that?)

Coldplay’s musical integrity has been questioned many times. Additionally, haters have called them boring and emotionless. But their fans love them! But are Coldplay overrated?

Coldplay is not overrated as they are extremely talented both in the studio and on stage. And while critics have been known to state that all their songs sound the same, their performances at NPR’s Tiny Desk and their streaming concert Everyday Life Concert in Jordan showcase their true talent.

Well-known website, The Guardian, called them banal.

The group has undeniably produced some of the most genius songs over the years, which can be called top-notch, soothing, and serenading. But even though Chris has soft vocals, the kind of music that the band integrates somehow fails to do justice to his lyrics.

And despite this worldwide hatred, they have sold over 80 million albums.

At a point, the music seems to overpower Chris’s vocals making one feel hearing impaired. Thus, leading media groups such as Newsarena.com, National news.com., and The Guardian, etc. calling them overrated.

Let’s see if that’s true.

Is Coldplay a good band?

Coldplay is an excellent band. They play perfectly with one another while fully engaging the crowd and making even the largest stadium feel intimate. They are not, however, virtuoso musicians. But their goal is not perfection; it’s to connect with the audience on an emotional level.

Coldplay’s experimentation can be given credit to their newly achieved goodness since their 4th album (Viva La Vida) release.

The band has recently begun collaborating with the industry’s significant stars like Beyonce (Hymn for the weekend), Rihanna (Princess of China), Dua Lipa (Feeling Me), and The Chainsmokers (Something Just Like This).

These collaborations have allowed Coldplay to branch out from the formulaic approach of their earlier albums. It’s also allowed them to stay current rather than sounding dated.

However, once again, on some of those songs Chris tends to chop his lyrics short (e.g., Something Just Like This).

Instead of forcefully rhyming the endnotes, he focuses on incorporating short sentences and talking about things that make meaning, at least to him, which is what an artist should be doing.

It makes up a valid reason why the band can gather huge crowds and have recorded some of the most unforgettable crowd singing moments in the history of live concerts.

Why is Coldplay so hated?

The reason for hate towards Coldplay is that to non-fans, much of their music sounds the same and leans towards slow and somber. Critics claim their music follows a limited number of formulas while being lyrically void and boring.

Warning: It may get funny.

One of the not so ardent Coldplay critics on a forum recalls an incident where she realized: “every once in a while; I’d get in a bad mood for no reason. A coworker later pointed out it was always when one of Coldplay songs came on.”

On this particular occasion, the fan had been listening to Coldplay two or three times in a row, and being annoyed as she was, she ended up venting it out on a customer.

She realized; Coldplay was playing. She decided that she hated the band and went out and yanked the CD player feeling better, immediately. Interesting, isn’t it?

That could totally make up for a script for any commercial promoting anxiety-reducing supplements.

Anyway!

After their 2005 X&Y music release, the band hit low when The New York Times reviewer Jon Pareles called them the most insufferable band of the decade.

Lead singer Chris Martin admitted it as the first real attack on the band. He took it positively by saying: “There is something glamorous for me in taking the beating.”

But it’s also in the eye of the beholder as I think that’s their best album.

Another reason for growing hatred towards Coldplay is their attempts of Cultural appropriations on various occasions.

They received their first outburst in 2012 with the video release: Princess of China featuring Rihanna.

Spin Magazine called it a lavish spin of “pseudo-trailer for a Kung Fu movie.”

Four years later, Coldplay faced similar accusations for Hymn for the Weekend co-starring Beyonce video release. Tweeters quickly criticized Coldplay for stereotyping Indian audiences.

It suffices to say; not everyone loves Coldplay.

What is Coldplay’s most overrated song?

The most overrated song by Coldplay is Orphans, released in 2019, which saw huge popularity despite vapid lyrics about getting drunk and a chorus of young people singing in the background.

But other critics have called out songs such as “Fix You” or “Swallowed in the Sea” as being not nearly worthy of the radio play.

But I happen to love both of those songs.

“The lyrics are dysfunctional, emotionless, and simply senseless,” writes one fan talking about yet another song – A Sky Full of Stars.

The sheer reiterations of one single sentence (cause you’re a sky) fail to impress music critics.

One of the listeners remarked- “It feels like a five-year-old just sat down to jot down his home assignment project given by his teacher. Of Course, the sky is full of stars, Chris. What else do you expect? A hamburger.”

One can quickly identify other songs from his collections that sound similar and have pretty much stayed on top of the charts.

According to Coldplay creative director Phil Harvey: The secret to Coldplay’s phenomenal success is Martin’s supernaturally positive, if not childlike, attitude.

Why do people like Coldplay?

Coldplay fans love the emotional connection evoked by both the music and singer Chris Martin’s lyrics. However, their live performances are nothing short of breathtaking with an incredible yet intimate show that is high-energy and musically varied.

Coldplay was formed when the old school rock n roll had died, and something new was required to capture the heart and soul of people.

It was the time when people were predominantly moving into the Pop culture.

People were kind of bored with the excessive dominance of solos and vocalists, and Coldplay was able to bring out pop culture gracefully.

Their music pattern is similar to U2, but as has been previously said, Chris Martin is no Bono, and Johnny Buckland is no Edge.

That being said, having seen both bands live, I’ll take Coldplay any day.

Coldplay have merged technically complex music with an emotional component. And while their music isn’t super technically challenging to play, it is complex in how all the sounds are layered.

Chris’s voice gets blended with the guitars, and a new enthusiasm is created (for example, Shiver, Fix You, The Hardest Part, Square One, and many others).

They have many surprising elements.

For example, the complete album Viva La Vida came as a surprise when they blended classical pieces with alternative rock music. They have even merged Indian Classical percussion in the song Life in Technicolor, and the guitar gives a feel of an Indian string instrument.

Audiences have liked such transfusions from time to time.

According to Billboards: Mylo Xyloto was the highest-grossing of the year.

When the fans expected another alternative rock album in this album, they gave out more than what fans wondered which is perhaps why people like them.

When did Coldplay first become popular?

Coldplay became famous around the world with the 2000 release of the song “Yellow” off their debut album Parachutes.

Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone Magazine has noted “Yellow” as “unrepentantly romantic.”

“Yellow” is the song where it all began, with its first Top 10 in 2000. Coldplay’s first hit went straight in at rank four and was taken from Parachutes.

Yellow has shifted 1.24M across all formats, being their biggest seller on physical structure, with 170,000 copies sold.

It also has 419,000 downloads and 65 million streams (not a bad performance in the digital era considering it came out in 2000).

In an interview with Howard Stern, singer Chris Martin said that the word “yellow” has absolutely no meaning.

While writing the remainder of the song, he tried his best to vary yellow to something else since every lyric before yellow made no sense, but within the end, the word “yellow” just sounded right.

The rise of Coldplay was fast; very swiftly, they conquered the world.

Their albums like Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), Mylo Xyloto (2011), Ghost Stories (2014), A Head Full of Dreams (2015), and Everyday Life (2019) all reached No.1 around the world.

Why Do People Hate Coldplay?

Conclusion

Coldplay has to its credit more than 200 songs throughout its career.

Every successful band is bound to receive criticism at some point. Coldplay’s came in the form of bringing them a title of overrated.

However, the truth is there are only a few songs that can be said overrated, but the band in itself is not overrated, which loyal fans have proved time and again.


Photo which requires attribution:

Coldplay by Benson Kua is licensed under CC2.0 and was cropped with a text overlay added.