“Hymn for the Weekend” by Coldplay ft. Beyoncé, Sunday, March 20, 2022
It's pretty easy to think of only the frontman or front woman when thinking about bands like Coldplay. Chris Martin is featured prominently in the band's music videos. He is certainly the most charismatic during the band's live performances. He's kept himself in good shape and is arguably the best looking band dude in Coldplay. However, this didn't give the band's fearless leader complete creative reign for their seventh studio album, A Head Full of Dreams. When Martin presented the idea for a late-night club hit "Drinks on Me," influenced by Flo Rida, the rest of the band shot Martin down.
LIFE IS A DRINK AND LOVE'S A DRUG. Every February or March, the first full-moon day of spring according to the Hindu lunar calendar, cities and towns in India shutdown for a very colorful celebration that lasts two days. This festival is called Holi, or The Festival of Colors and this year it was celebrated on March 18 and 19. During this festival, everyone, old or young and of every caste, wears old clothes and meets in the city streets. They throw colorful powders in the air and at each other. When Coldplay was shooting their video for "Hymn for the Weekend," they decided to feature scenes of Indian culture from several cities and feature Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor. The highlight, though, is when Chris Martian runs through the streets as he is pelted with the colored powders of a Holi celebration. Later the band is performing in this colorful explosion. While nothing compares to the a real-life Holi celebration, Coldplay's live shows during their seventh album cycle were inspired by this bright multi-colored event. And while you might call it generic pop, it certainly was uplifting.
I'M FEELING DRUNK AND HIGH. While Martin's party anthem was shut down, "Hymn for the Weekend" certainly is good weekend vibes. Known better in the US by its "Seeb Remix," however you choose to enjoy the song, it's perfect for feeling great. Rather than being a song about alcoholic hedonism, the second single from AHFoD says that life itself is a drink and that love is a drug. The speaker then feels "drunk" on life and "high" on love. Rather than partying and saying "Drinks on me," Beyoncé sings "Drink from me," offering restoration after the "divorce record" that was Ghost Stories. "Hymn for the Weekend" may be the only song that just casually features Beyoncè. She even appears in the music video, yet the song and the music video aren't even billed as "featuring Beyoncé" whereas two albums before the band listed "Princess of China" as "featuring Rihanna" and on track six on AHFoD the song "Fun" features Tove Lo. Coldplay is often criticized for their "trying too hard" popstar antics, their features being one of them. BTS, Selena Gomez, The Chain Smokers--the band of dads trying to stay relevant. While those pop collaborations might be artistically suspect, I truly think that Beyoncé in "Hymn for the Weekend" was the best choice. Furthermore, Beyoncé doesn't outshine Coldplay with her power vocals, which could have easily happened. Instead, "Hymn for the Weekend" is an excellent, balanced composition. And that's something to feel pretty good about.
Music video:
Seeb Remix:
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