The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Since their hit song
‘Fix You’, Coldplay has been climbing up the charts with inspiring music that
makes its listener just want to go out and do something, or curl up ‎under a
blanket and watch the rain.‎

Following their 2008 best-selling
album Viva La Vida, the British band had to do something ‎that exceeded all expectations. Indeed, the
two singles released prior to their new album Mylo ‎Xyloto were promising. ‘Every Teardrop is a Waterfall’ was
exactly what Coldplay fans expected ‎and yearned for; clever lyrics that held great
motivating messages backed by ‎top-notch instruments and presented in a creative video.‎

However, one can’t
confidently say that this applied to the rest of the album. In a theme of a love
story between Mylo and Xyloto told through the songs, ‘Hurts like Heaven’
starts with the most upbeat tempo on the album, after the brief musical
introduction of ‘Mylo Xyloto’. Then it steps back to the band’s familiar form
of violin intros and Chris Martin’s high-pitched ‘oh’s in the background with
‘Paradise’, a song that leans a bit towards pop tunes.

But nothing says pop
in Mylo Xyloto as much as the collaboration with Rihanna on ‘Princess
of China’. The song doesn’t really take a certain shape; it’s more of a mix
between Rihanna’s na-na-nas and Coldplay’s rock music, yet it was more pop than
should be expected and the two styles don’t exactly fit.

On the other hand, a
couple of tracks succeeded in keeping the original Coldplay feel to them. One
of those is ‘U F O’ featuring Chris Martin’s subtle vocals on a background of guitar
and violins. ‘Charlie Brown’ is another anthem-like melody that crescendos
halfway through the track, shifting the mood completely.

Mylo Xyloto fairly succeeds in meeting fans’ high expectations. Many
of the album’s songs are reminiscent of Coldplay’s earliest hits. They’ve
obviously raised the bar with every album so far, and they could have named
their album A New Coldplay Album and it would still be successful, but
switching to pop probably won’t please a lot of fans.