Rank It: “Music of the Spheres” - Coldplay
Coldplay’s aesthetically-driven experimental album squeezed into the Album of the Year category at the 2023 Grammys. Kaitlyn Murphy ranks “Music of the Spheres,” an album that sends the listener straight into outer space.
12. �� (Earth emoji)
21 seconds of a cheering crowd and some reversed dialogue to sound like an alien language. It’s a bridge between two songs but overall not really important.
11. �� (Saturn emoji)
This is the first track on the album, 52 seconds of more crowd noises and the same reversed words. Some cool ambient music but nothing special.
10. Coloratura
So, I think we’ve established that only Taylor Swift can truly pull off a 10 minute song. This one lost my attention halfway through and I just can’t listen to it for fun.
9. Biutyful
A nice beat, and played while I was walking out of their concert this summer so I have a nice memory attached to it, but it’s weird. A high pitched female voice sings alongside Chris Martin to create a trippy love song.
8. ✨ (Stars emoji)
A very calming instrumental track that just sounds like deep space. Great study tune.
7. ♾️ (Infinity sign)
Sorry if you’re sick of reading about instrumental tracks, but just have to get them out of the way before the top 5. This one is longer and the most psychedelic, adds the most to the ambiance of the album.
6. ❤️ (Heart emoji) (feat. We Are KING and Jacob Collier)
This song is so sad, but so real. It touches on the difference between boys and girls showing their emotions, but how in the end we all have “human hearts.”
5. My Universe (feat. BTS)
If I was a BTS fan, this might be ranked higher. But sadly I am not. It’s a nice, upbeat tune but lyrically lacking compared to other Coldplay songs.
.4 Let Somebody Go (feat. Selena Gomez)
This was a collaboration I didn’t see coming at all, and this is a tragically beautiful song about how hard it is to let go of a lover. Martin and Gomez’s voices blend very well, and the ending swells into a powerful catharsis.
3. People of the Pride
Very tonally different from the rest of the album because it rocks so hard. A song about revolutions and never bowing to a corrupt government, it is so much fun to jump around to.
2. Higher Power
The true start to the album that has high danceability and is just a lot of fun all around. Sounds like it should be accompanied by pyrotechnics, and Coldplay came through at the concert with colorful fireworks.
1. Humankind
One of my favorite Coldplay songs of all time, hands down. Both musically and lyrically phenomenal, the song discusses how even though everyone goes through struggles, we can all find the power to overcome them in the end. After all, “We’re only human.”
Kaitlyn Murphy is a first-year majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact her, email kvm6255@psu.edu.
