"Arabesque" is a song by Coldplay from their eighth studio album, Everyday Life. It is the seventh track on the first side of the album, Sunrise, and was released as the co-lead single on 24 October 2019 along with the lead single "Orphans". The song features French vocals by Belgian singer Stromae and horn sections by Nigerian musician Femi Kuti and his band, Positive Force.
Chronologically, it is the first studio release by the band and one of three on the album to contain profanity, followed by "Trouble in Town" and "Guns".
Background and recording[]
"Arabesque" dates back from the recording sessions of the band's unreleased album The Wedding Album and the fifth studio album Mylo Xyloto, respectively. When Chris Martin was “kicked out” of the band for two weeks by Viva la Vida's producer Brian Eno, band members Guy Berryman, Will Champion and Jonny Buckland stayed on studio with him doing lots of jamming and sound experimentation in order to exercise their creativity without Chris interference upon them. When he came back, one of the sounds that came up from these jam sessions was the guitar line of the song, and, despite not making through the album at the time, Chris said he really liked it for years.[1]
While reworking the song for Everyday Life, Chris said the main chorus riff melody came to his mind, and, after listening a sample of Fela Kuti's Music Is the Weapon, he asked Fela's son Femi Kuti, his son Made Kuti, and his band Positive Force, to join the track and add horn instruments on it. Belgian singer Stromae joined in after an invitation from Chris for him to participate on the track. In an interview for BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac, he said: “[Stromae] is maybe one of the best artists in the world and he's just wonderful, and his last record [...], Racine carrée, is so brilliant and that blew me away, and I think that influenced this album quite lot. And somehow we became friendly and I asked if he would sing on it and he said okay.”[2]
Guy Berryman said "Arabesque" was initially a completely different song, with only a little piece of the old version being maintained on the intro of the new version (from 0:13 to 0:28).[3]
In an interview with MusicTech, band producer Rik Simpson told that the bedrock of the final track present on the album is still the original take which was recorded back in 2008-2009. He explained: “The song has evolved massively since then, but the basic groove and its driving nature have always been like that. The trick was getting the groove to bounce right, and evolving the piece imperceptibly over time, keeping the ear interested.” In the same interview, he also revealed the brass part of the song was recorded at High Seas Studios, on Johannesburg, South Africa, in December of 2018, with Femi and his band.[4][5]
Composition and structure[]
"Arabesque" was written by all band members, Karnivool guitarist Drew Goddard, Femi Kuti and Stromae, while production was handled by The Dream Team: Rik Simpson, Daniel Green and Bill Rahko.
The song structure consists of a voice memo of a Jerusalem street, a saxophone and horn sessions, french vocals, an extended saxophone solo, a sample of the closing monologue of the 1982 Fela Kuti documentary, Music Is the Weapon, finishing with a wall of sound composed by synths, horns, drums, bass and guitar.
Release[]
"Arabesque" was released as a co-lead single along with the album main single "Orphans" on 24 October 2019. On the release date, before the scheduled time, an Instagram account was created under the name Baritone (@baritone1919), which is the name of one of the musicians featured on the album's artwork cover. In it, the first verse of the lyrics was revealed, filling in nine publication squares.[6]
A limited 7" vinyl edition was released on the same day as the songs release; a portion of all proceeds from it was donated to global reforestation efforts at onetreeplanted.org.[7] The single artwork was designed by Pilar Zeta.
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1: Chris Martin]
I could be you, you could be me
Two raindrops in the same sea
You could be me, I could be you
Two angles of the same view
And we share the same blood
[Verse 2: Stromae, Will Champion & Chris Martin]
Comme deux gouttes d’eau
On se ressemble
Comme provenant de la même mère
Comme deux ruisseaux (You could be me)
Qui se rassemblent (I could be you)
Pour faire les grandes rivières
And we share the same blood
Yeah, we share the same blood
[Verse 3: Chris Martin]
And we share the same blood
Yeah, we share the same blood
[Sample: Fela Kuti]
Music is the weapon, music is the weapon of the future
Music is the weapon, music is the weapon of the future
Music is the weapon, music is the weapon of the future
[Outro: Chris Martin]
Same fucking blood
Same fucking blood
Lyric video[]
Coldplay - Arabesque (Official Lyric Video)
Official audio[]
Arabesque
Critical reception[]
"Arabesque" has received positive reviews from music critics. Dan Stubbs of NME stated the song “finds Coldplay in less familiar territory than 'Orphans', in that it has French vocals and a sax freakout that shifts the song into a modern jazz piece that couldn’t be more in tune with the nu-jazz zeitgeist if it tried.”[8] Writing for Under the Radar, Christopher Roberts named it the best song of the week, stating that “'Arabesque' is one of the coolest, most interesting songs the band has released in years”.[9] Christian Eede of The Quietus wrote that “Coldplay are digging up their roots and toying with the base-level fabric of their sound with an attacking, seductive piece that storms trumpet-first”, and named "Arabesque" one of the best tracks of October 2019.[10]
In a ranking of the band's entire discography, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of Parachutes, NME described the song as “the most sophisticated, fluid and challenging things" the band ever done, adding, “Credit goes to Nigerian musician Femi Kuti, who, along with his band, performs the storming horn solos and harmonies that move this into a much more beguiling, hypnotic realm than casual Coldplay fans could ever expect. But such a discordant melody makes sense when you listen closely. It's their first studio track to ever include profanity, and they've made sure it's worthwhile. “Same fucking blood”, Martin screams, over the grandiose horn-led outro. Guitars take the backseat, this isn't the place for a falsetto. It's a whole new world, one of nu-jazz and blinding anger against enduring discrimination.”[11]
Trivia[]
- The song title was first revealed in 2009, during an interview to CBS' television programme, 60 Minutes, appearing in a list of possible songs to be worked on.[12]
- "Arabesque" features three Kuti generations on it: Fela Kuti (grandfather), Femi Kuti (father) and Made Kuti (son).[13]
References[]
- ↑ https://youtu.be/zouss3epKZk
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVgIDJSVV3U
- ↑ https://youtu.be/WxwxHBrCbeQ
- ↑ https://www.musictech.net/features/interviews/rik-simpson-dan-green-coldplay-everyday-life/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B4McUhinrkQ/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/baritone1919/
- ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orphans-Arabesque-VINYL-Coldplay/dp/B07YMDZM78
- ↑ https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/coldplay-orphans-arabesque-track-reviews-2560714
- ↑ http://undertheradarmag.com/news/8_best_songs_of_the_week_coldplay_destroyer_anna_meredith_wire_and_more
- ↑ https://thequietus.com/articles/27382-music-of-the-month-october-2019-meemo-comma-richard-dawson-nick-cave-stephen-mallinder-kim-gordon-floating-points-joy-orbison
- ↑ https://www.nme.com/features/every-coldplay-song-ranked-in-order-of-greatness-2704676
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwfIeArfEsM
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVgIDJSVV3U