Remember Whensday – Mylo Xyloto

remember whensday

Written by Jacob Sigmon

It seems like in every generation of music we have a band that can consistently continue to deliver relevant albums that people enjoy listening to. These bands could have been around for a decade or more and will still deliver something that sounds like day one of their careers. These bands usually give us an album that completely strips away their old sound and embraces something entirely unique and new that keeps them relevant; one could even call this the Maroon 5 effect. In this case, though, the band I am talking about is Coldplay and the album I am talking about is Mylo Xyloto.

On October 19, 2011, Coldplay released a beautifully ambitious fifth albumMylo Xyloto. This was Coldplay’s third album to go platinum in the US. With Coldplay having been around almost a decade at the time of its release, Mylo Xyloto was an attempt at many things. First and foremost, it was an attempt to make a Coldplay album that felt as close to mainstream pop as possible. Second, it was an album designed to cater to younger listeners that may have not been as well acquainted with Coldplay as older listeners. Lastly, it may have been Coldplay’s way of telling listeners that they were entering the second half of their career.

It has been exactly four years since Coldplay endowed Mylo Xyloto. Coldplay ended up being successful with keeping themselves very relevant with the release of the album. Since then, Coldplay has released yet another album (Ghost Stories) that went number one in the US. I do not think there is a single way to argue with the merits of Coldplay’s artistic intuition. In a music industry where it is difficult for an artist to get noticed past their debut album, Coldplay only makes us ask one question: Where will they take us next?

Take yourself back with “Charlie Brown”:

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