Oceans

"Oceans"
General information
Genre	Soft rock Folktronica Ambient
Length	5:21
Labels
Producer(s)	Coldplay Paul Epworth Daniel Green Rik Simpson
Album	Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories track listing
"Another's Arms"
"Oceans"
"A Sky Full of Stars"

"Oceans" is a song by Coldplay from their sixth studio album, Ghost Stories. It is the seventh track of the album.

Background and composition

In an interview for Beats Music, Chris Martin revealed the song was inspired by the imagery of Brighton Palace Pier, a pleasure pier located in Brighton, England. He explained: "I've always had this image of the pier in Brighton, in the south of England. So, there's a pier on this pebble beach and the image I had in my head of that is, being through this thing like in like lots of books and films, someone goes on a journey and then I just felt like on a certain point, you just wanna wake up on a beach and everything seems ok and everything makes sense. So that song, always, to me... The end of it particularly, just felt like you completely give in to life and say ok, I trust whatever is happening. It's a song about trust."

The song is a slow-moving acoustic ballad that has been described as channelling the band's earlier records, Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head. The song is predominantly played with an acoustic guitar and a steady electronic drum beat mimicking the sound of a sonar, with a light orchestra accompanying the song towards the end, which fades into the next track, "A Sky Full of Stars". The song's lyrics, which share the same motif as the rest of the songs featured on Ghost Stories, talk about a relationship falling apart.

Live performances

"Oceans" was first performed by the band during their appearance on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge program on April 23, 2014, alongside "Magic". A video of the performance was uploaded onto the official BBC Radio 1 YouTube channel the same day as the airing of the performance. The performance was featured on many music magazines and websites, with some noting Chris' performance of the song, playing the acoustic guitar without his wedding ring; the first time since his separation from Gwyneth Paltrow.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Wait for your call, love
The call never came
Ready to fall up
Ready to claim
And I'm ready for it all, love
Ready for the pain
Meet under sun and
Meet me again
In the rain
In the rain
In the rain
The rain

[Verse 2]
Behind the walls, love
I'm trying to change (Trying to change, trying to change, trying to change, trying to change)
And I'm ready for it all, love
I'm ready for the change
Meet me in blue sky
Meet me again
In the rain
The rain
In the rain
The rain

[Outro]
Oh
Got to find yourself alone in this world
To find yourself alone (To find yourself alone, yourself alone)

Official audio

Oceans

Critical reception

"Oceans" received positive reception upon its debut during the band's appearance on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. Carolyn Menyes of Music Times, who described the song as "dreamy", wrote a positive review of the song, describing it further as "sleepy, comforting and straight up pretty in all the right ways; at least on the surface." Bruna Nessif of E! also wrote positively of Chris' performance of the song, writing that "there are notes Martin hits that are just incredible, and they sound just as amazing as they do while playing on repeat on your radio at home". Billboard writer Jason Lipshutz praised the song production, saying that "a blinking signal reminiscent of a sonar is one of the neat production details on "Oceans", which also smartly echoes the word "trying" when Martin sings, "Behind the walls, love/I'm trying to change." Carl Williott of Idolator, upon mentioning comparisons of the song to Parachutes, wrote that the song "is the first track that truly feels like it could've come from a Parachutes session. There's hardly a hook to be found, but it's a lovely, slightly forlorn sway of a song, with an acoustic guitar anchoring Chris Martin's meandering falsetto amidst some swirling atmospherics". Alex Young of Consequence of Sound jokingly stated that the song would "make for a good Starbucks soundtrack".