Joining host Bru for a special Audacy Check In today is Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, giving us details about the band’s forthcoming 10th studio album, Moon Music, their current record-breaking world tour, and more on the release day of the band's brand new single, "WE PRAY."

It’s a bright and shiny Friday for Coldplay fans with the arrival of their new track, "WE PRAY," the band’s collaboration with UK rapper Little Simz, Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Burna Boy, Palestinian-Chilean R&B phenomenon Elyanna and chart-topping Argentine TINI, from 2024's highly-anticipated follow-up to 2021’s Music Of The Spheres set to arrive on October 4, Moon Music. 

Things are certainly coming together quickly, as the band just revealed the tracklist for the new offering just last week. Pre-orders for the upcoming release -- which will set new standards for sustainability, with each LP made from 100% recycled plastic bottles (nine per record) -- are available now on EcoCD, EcoRecord LP, and digital download. 

“’WE PRAY’ sort of wrote itself like some of the good songs do,” Chris tells us of how the new single came about. “In Taiwan, in the middle of the night, I woke up and the song was in my head, and I don't know where it came from. So the sound of it sort of dictated itself and that's all. I just sort of followed the road map that it said.”

When choosing to include features on any project, he says, “You have to let the song decide; the song sort of says what it needs, and I think that the song ‘WE PRAY’ probably arrived from wherever it arrived from because I've been thinking a lot about all of these conflicts and people that hate each other. We're all praying for the same things, and we’d probably all get along if you just sat down long enough. I think that was the field into which it landed, and then it felt very natural that I wouldn't do all the verses or wouldn't sing it all on my own.”

“It felt like it's a song about different types of people, so we should have different types of people singing it,” he explains. “Burna Boy, Elyanna, TINI, Little Simz, they're all from different continents and different languages, and that's what just felt really right.”

Coming up on the band’s tenth studio album, Bru wondered what Chris thinks a pre-“Parachutes” era version of himself would think of the success the band has seen over the years.

“It's funny, because maybe you have this in your own life, or athletes have it,” he says, “You have what's in front of you, and then a sense of where you're going in the bigger picture, and you also become more and more aware that everything you're doing and have done is all a gift. You're sort of doing it, but sort of not doing it too. Everything is given. So, I think the younger version of me would be surprised,” he admits. At the same time, he acknowledges by paraphrasing Liam Neeson, “I don't know why I got given this particular set of specialist skills. So, yeah, I think it'd be a mixture of, ‘Yeah, that sounds about right,’ or ‘No way!’”

Music continues to inspire and surprise Chris as “infinite and unknowable like life itself,” Chris says. “I think as some people, as they get older claim to know less and less, and I think that's how I feel about music,” he adds, which has become, “more and more of a mystery, and more and more amazing and magical.”

“You realize you're just so lucky to be able to do it,” he says, “and there's so many great young people coming through -- and older music you haven't heard. If you stay a fan, there's more and more things to be fans of -- which in itself is inspiring and humbling.”

As genres bend and mesh together with fans’ tastes, Martin explains, “I feel like music -- if I can speak in a boring way for a minute -- music kind of shows where culture could go in terms of how humans work. If you think about the fact that the first gay people that were really accepted was in music, the first place where racial diversity became totally normal was in music. Maybe [with] this sort of, ‘no genres,’ there's no us and them in music… and I feel that's such a healthy place for us all to head towards.”

“What's so beautiful about the Olympics,” Chris believes, “is that it's a healthy amount of ‘us and them,’ but it's not really a serious ‘us and them,’ it's enough to make the whole thing interesting. But ultimately, it's one massive collaboration between people who are supposed to hate each other, right? And a big concert is like that too. A big concert these days is one of the only peaceful places in the world where thousands of people just hang out together without caring who's what. And that's what the Olympics does, and I think that's why we all love watching these things -- because it shows, ‘Oh, this is no problem here.’”

“One thing that's important to remember in sport is, you need the opposition,” he adds. “You can't have the game without them, so you can't hate them too much… and if they're not good, then it won't be fun to watch. So, in a way, your enemy is your friend and I think that's important.”

Don’t miss Bru’s full Audacy Check In with Chris Martin above for his thoughts on performing at Las Vegas' Sphere and more -- and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on Audacy.com/Live.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Bru

Joining host Bru for a special Audacy Check In today is Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, giving us details about the band’s forthcoming 10th studio album, Moon Music, their current record-breaking world tour, and more on the release day of the band's brand new single, "WE PRAY."
It’s a bright and shiny Friday for Coldplay fans with the arrival of their new track, "WE PRAY," the band’s collaboration with UK rapper Little Simz, Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Burna Boy, Palestinian-Chilean R&amp;B phenomenon Elyanna and chart-topping Argentine TINI, from 2024's highly-anticipated follow-up to 2021’s Music Of The Spheres set to arrive on October 4, Moon Music. 
Things are certainly coming together quickly, as the band just revealed the tracklist for the new offering just last week. Pre-orders for the upcoming release -- which will set new standards for sustainability, with each LP made from 100% recycled plastic bottles (nine per record) -- are available now on EcoCD, EcoRecord LP, and digital download. 
“’WE PRAY’ sort of wrote itself like some of the good songs do,” Chris tells us of how the new single came about. “In Taiwan, in the middle of the night, I woke up and the song was in my head, and I don't know where it came from. So the sound of it sort of dictated itself and that's all. I just sort of followed the road map that it said.”
When choosing to include features on any project, he says, “You have to let the song decide; the song sort of says what it needs, and I think that the song ‘WE PRAY’ probably arrived from wherever it arrived from because I've been thinking a lot about all of these conflicts and people that hate each other. We're all praying for the same things, and we’d probably all get along if you just sat down long enough. I think that was the field into which it landed, and then it felt very natural that I wouldn't do all the verses or wouldn't sing it all on my own.”
“It felt like it's a song about different types of people, so we should have different types of people singing it,” he explains. “Burna Boy, Elyanna, TINI, Little Simz, they're all from different continents and different languages, and that's what just felt really right.”
Coming up on the band’s tenth studio album, Bru wondered what Chris thinks a pre-“Parachutes” era version of himself would think of the success the band has seen over the years.
“It's funny, because maybe you have this in your own life, or athletes have it,” he says, “You have what's in front of you, and then a sense of where you're going in the bigger picture, and you also become more and more aware that everything you're doing and have done is all a gift. You're sort of doing it, but sort of not doing it too. Everything is given. So, I think the younger version of me would be surprised,” he admits. At the same time, he acknowledges by paraphrasing Liam Neeson, “I don't know why I got given this particular set of specialist skills. So, yeah, I think it'd be a mixture of, ‘Yeah, that sounds about right,’ or ‘No way!’”
Music continues to inspire and surprise Chris as “infinite and unknowable like life itself,” Chris says. “I think as some people, as they get older claim to know less and less, and I think that's how I feel about music,” he adds, which has become, “more and more of a mystery, and more and more amazing and magical.”
“You realize you're just so lucky to be able to do it,” he says, “and there's so many great young people coming through -- and older music you haven't heard. If you stay a fan, there's more and more things to be fans of -- which in itself is inspiring and humbling.”
As genres bend and mesh together with fans’ tastes, Martin explains, “I feel like music -- if I can speak in a boring way for a minute -- music kind of shows where culture could go in terms of how humans work. If you think about the fact that the first gay people that were really accepted was in music, the first place where racial diversity became totally normal was in music. Maybe [with] this sort of, ‘no genres,’ there's no us and them in music… and I feel that's such a healthy place for us all to head towards.”
“What's so beautiful about the Olympics,” Chris believes, “is that it's a healthy amount of ‘us and them,’ but it's not really a serious ‘us and them,’ it's enough to make the whole thing interesting. But ultimately, it's one massive collaboration between people who are supposed to hate each other, right? And a big concert is like that too. A big concert these days is one of the only peaceful places in the world where thousands of people just hang out together without caring who's what. And that's what the Olympics does, and I think that's why we all love watching these things -- because it shows, ‘Oh, this is no problem here.’”
“One thing that's important to remember in sport is, you need the opposition,” he adds. “You can't have the game without them, so you can't hate them too much… and if they're not good, then it won't be fun to watch. So, in a way, your enemy is your friend and I think that's important.”
Don’t miss Bru’s full Audacy Check In with Chris Martin above for his thoughts on performing at Las Vegas' Sphere and more -- and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on <a href="https://www.audacy.com/live">Audacy.com/Live</a>.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Bru

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Advertisement