Someone bothered to count how many “Lalalas” appear on Coldplay’s new album, “Moon Music.” There are 384. Most in “Good Feelings” (110), “One World” (95) and “We Pray” (84).
The song titles alone reveal Chris Martin’s intentions: He wants us to be well, to unite in love and peace and to create a better world. Totally for it! But his claim that all the “Lalalas” are deliberate blank spaces that the audience is allowed to fill in at the concerts – sorry, that’s a lame excuse from someone who can no longer think of meaningful lyrics.
Of course everyone likes to sing along at concerts, it’s the best thing to connect with thousands of other fans and feel that sense of community – but Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe: they still always managed to come up with a few easy-to-sing-along lines to think up.
Coldplay just want to be a karaoke band
Coldplay have finally said goodbye to the claim of creating art. They only provide participation material. This is what sets them apart from the other live giants these days. You don’t have to like Taylor Swift’s lyrics, but at least she writes them. And Adele showed at her ten mega-concerts in Munich how, even on such a huge stage, the focus can be clearly on the music, not on the fuss around it. (However, the environmental pollution that such pop-up stadiums bring with them should not be ignored, and we have often reported on the horrendous ticket prices – so there is still a long way to go to improve the world.)
If Chris Martin now only sees his performances as major events for the whole family (which is of course poor afterwards), as happenings in which he no longer plays a decisive role: then why doesn’t he have cheap avatars travel around the world for them? there is no need for CO2 compensation at all? This supposed modesty is nonsense: Of course we want to see rock stars on stage, we want to cheer people who give us wonderful music and, ideally, a little hope in these times. To do this, they don’t have to pretend that they are on the same level as the audience – as people, of course, they are, but as performers they are not.
In comparison, it’s almost pleasant to imagine the Oasis reunion concerts in 2025: Liam Gallagher will stand behind the microphone as arrogant as ever, Noel will stand uninvolved next to him. No confetti cannons, no superficial cuddly feeling. However, Oasis also has a few “Lalalas” (in “All Around The World” and “I’m Outta
“Time” for example). But at least Noel Gallagher never claimed that there was any clever thought behind it. Sometimes he just can’t think of anything else. Fair enough!