Mylo Xyloto ( ) is the fifth studio album by British rock band Coldplay. It was released by Parlophone on 19 October 2011 in Japan and 24 October 2011 in the rest of the world. The band worked closely with producer Brian Eno following their successful collaboration on their previous album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008).
Mylo Xyloto is the band's first concept album, and it also is a thematic rock opera. The album tells the story of a war against sound and colour on the planet Silencia, which has been overtaken by a totalitarian government led by Major Minus, who controls the population through media and propaganda. His aim is to take sound and colour off the streets in hope to draw away "feeders", creatures that use such energy to hunt its prey. The album follows Mylo Xyloto, a "silencer", a soldier in an army tasked to hunt and track down "sparkers", people who harness light and energy and use it to create sparks, comparable to graffiti in real life. He encounters Fly, the sparker most wanted by Major Minus. Through Fly, Mylo discovers his sparker abilities and his affiliation with the Car Kids, a major sparker faction founded by Mylo's parents, Aiko and Lela. Drummer Will Champion has noted that the album is a story of the characters "falling in love and trying to escape together", with a general theme of "love conquering all". In interviews the band have said that the album follows a love story between Mylo and Xyloto, with them being separate characters. However, in the comics based on the album, Mylo Xyloto is the main protagonist and Fly is the sparker girl he encounters.
The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its uplifting tone and new electronic sound; however, some found its material bombastic and overproduced. "Paradise" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" received a total of three nominations at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, while the album and "Charlie Brown" received two further nods in the following year. Internationally, Mylo Xyloto charted at number one in 34 countries. In the United Kingdom, Mylo Xyloto became Coldplay's fifth album to debut at number one, selling 208,343 units in its first week, and setting a one-week digital sales record with 83,000 copies sold. Mylo Xyloto broke an iTunes record for digital downloads sales by selling over 500,000 digital copies in a week. (Beyoncé's self-titled album and Adele's 25 topped this record in 2013 and 2015 respectively). Mylo Xyloto became Coldplay's third album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 447,411 units in its first week of sales. It was the United Kingdom's best-selling rock album of 2011, moving over 908,000 copies. The album has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.
Background In November 2008, in an interview with All Headline News, Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin stated that "I don't think bands should keep going past [the age of] 33", but later rephrased this to say that what he meant was that they must proceed "as if it's our last, because that's the only way to proceed" in December 2008, adding that he thought the band would never split. Bass guitarist Guy Berryman, who earlier wrote that the band will "just have to start work and see how it shapes up", reported that the band would return to the studio:
We've already got lists of song ideas. We never stop writing. We go into the studio with all the best laid plans then what we end up with is not what we intended. It's just exciting to wonder what will come out the speakers in a year's time. We have very exciting things lined up. It's time to take our music down different directions and really explore other avenues.
In one interview, Martin predicted the style of the incoming album as being less dominated by fanfare, and featuring a more "stripped-down" sound.
Studios
In November 2006, Coldplay established a recording HQ at a disused bakery in Primrose Hill, North London, where they recorded a big part of Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. Part of Mylo Xyloto was also recorded on the same place, however this time they used a new studio, near the original, called The Beehive. While a few overdubs and a lot of comping were recorded at The Bakery, a lot of live recording and live takes were done on the new studio. The Beehive was described by Rik Simpson, one of the producers, as a "large room". One of the band's roadies blogged about the studio, describing it as having a "gorgeous reverb". Still about the studio he said: "Everywhere you go there's light streaming in. Even on a relatively gloomy British afternoon, it's noticeably bright inside. I can only imagine that this will be reflected in the new material". Recording for the album was finished in September 2011.
Style and concept
Mylo Xyloto is a concept album, according to Martin, "based on a love story with a happy ending" and has been described as alternative rock, pop, electronica, pop rock, space rock, and electronic rock. Two protagonists living in an oppressive, dystopian, urban environment, meet one another through a gang and fall in love. Lyrically, the album is inspired by "old school American graffiti" and "the White Rose Movement." Martin also said that the album was influenced by HBO TV series The Wire.
Coldplay had stated on several occasions, long before the release, that they wanted the album to be "more acoustic" and "more intimate" than its predecessor, 2008's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The band later said they got to a point where they were trying to make two records, a stripped-down album, that started to be recorded first, along with an electric one that was already being called Mylo Xyloto by the band. However, they later decided to combine both albums. Drummer Will Champion explained that the band realised they couldn't focus on more than one thing at once, and songs like "Paradise" couldn't be played in an acoustic style. Martin pointed another song as a reason too: We have a song called Charlie Brown, which was the centrepiece of this other record we started first. We were playing the riff on an accordion and Guy came in one morning and said, 'I'm afraid I have to put my foot down. I don't want to speak out of turn, but I will not allow this song to be played on an accordion – that has to go in with the Mylo bunch'. So then we thought – let's just make one album.
In the end, some songs composed for the acoustic album such as "Us Against the World" and "U.F.O." maintained the "stripped" approach, while others such as "Charlie Brown" changed into a new form. Songs from both records ended up on the final album, worldbeat elements from the predecessor Viva la Vida are present but the overall production of it became electronic influenced. The electro-rock sound can be heard through the whole album, beginning with opening song "Hurts Like Heaven" which has synthesised sounds and vocals predominantly on vocoder. The next track, "Paradise", also shows the band stepping outside of their comfort zone and going into the new electronic territory. Additionally, this song has an R&B beat style, which is also featured on "Princess of China". This track opens with an anxious blend of synths and guitars and then goes into an R&B type beat. The album has three short instrumentals which are included as noodling experimental electronic interjections on the record.
Artwork
The album's artworks were revealed on 12 August 2011, inspired on graffiti the band worked again with longtime collaborators Tappin Gofton and, this time, also with British street artist, Paris. The band had already started to research and work with graffiti on their home studios, The Bakery and The Beehive, when designer Misty Buckley introduced Paris to them, as they were looking for a graffiti artist to teach them the techniques to do it. Although initially he was supposed to be just a "teacher", Paris stayed on the project until the end, producing part of the final work along with the band.
Coldplay wanted it to be an explosion of vivid colours as a counterpoint to the subdued colour palette of Viva la Vida, and at the same time, there were many lyrics and codes they wished to add. Researches and development into street art started six months before the work had begun. Then a graffiti wall was painted by the band itself and Paris, formed by nine parts. Tappin Gofton wanted the whole evolution of the wall, so at the end of every day, many highly detailed photos would be taken of it. In the end, a picture including three parts of the wall was featured on the front cover, while the whole wall is featured on the centre of the CD's booklet.
The final versions of the covers have a picture of the wall. Half of the CDs were packed with the booklet flipped, showing the silver initials "M X" via a die-cut sheet placed over the photo on the front, while the other half was packed with the full picture and the full name of the album written over it. Both covers use an original typeface created for this work; the new font is used in most of the album's graphic promotion.
Title Martin hinted at the album's title prior to release, saying "it will probably begin with an M." During interviews the band has already given many different reasons and meanings to the album's name. Martin also said it was reference to the album's characters, the boy (Mylo) and the girl (Xyloto) respectively. Another meaning suggested by the frontman was that the name was supposed to be a graffiti tag for the band, relating "xylophone" to the word "xyloto". Much of the art was done by Paris 1974.
Release and promotion
The album was originally set to be released in December 2010 as a "decade-ender", but was postponed to 2011 since the album was far from finished as Coldplay concluded their Viva la Vida Tour. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland mentioned that the album would be released in the latter year. The iTunes Store let users hear one new song from the album every day the week before until the album was released. The album was released on 24 October 2011 on CD and on vinyl. A special edition that includes the CD, digital copy and LP disc along with copies of the band's studio notes, stencils, a poster, a pop up book and stickers was made available on 19 December 2011.
Singles On 31 May, Coldplay announced that "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" would be released on 3 June at 12 pm BST via download. The single sampled "I Go to Rio", written by Peter Allen and Adrienne Anderson. On 21 June 2011, Coldplay's website announced the band would release an iTunes exclusive digital EP which additionally contained "Major Minus" and "Moving to Mars" on 26 June.
The album's second single, "Paradise", was released on 12 September 2011. That same day, Chris Martin announced that Rihanna would be featured on "Princess of China". "Paradise" reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the top 10 in 15 charts around the world. On 1 January 2012, it became the year's first number-one single in the UK and Coldplay's second chart-topper in the country. The song was also the best-selling rock single of 2011 in the United Kingdom.