Orphans

"Orphans"
General information
Artist	Coldplay
Released	24 October 2019
Recorded	2018–2019
Genre	Alternative rock Pop rock
Length	3:17
Labels
Songwriter(s)	Guy Berryman Jonny Buckland Will Champion Chris Martin Moses Martin
Producer(s)	Bill Rahko Daniel Green Rik Simpson Max Martin Angel Lopez Federico Vindver
Album	Everyday Life
Singles chronology
← Previous	"Miracles (Someone Special)"
Current	"Orphans"
Next →	"Arabesque"
Everyday Life track listing
"Guns"
"Orphans"
"Èkó"

"Orphans" is a song by Coldplay from their eighth studio album, Everyday Life (2019). It is the second track on the second side of the album, Sunset, and was released as the lead single on 24 October 2019 alongside the co-lead single "Arabesque". The official music video premiered the following day, on 25 October 2019.

Background and recording

"Orphans" came along in the last week of the album production, being a last minute addition to the track list, although its title was already around for a while, according to the band. On an interview with Annie Mac for BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds, Chris Martin explained: "[...] There was a tiny seed of it for a minute and then, just as we were mixing, I felt like, "Oh, I gotta find that little voice memo", and then the whole song came through a light, so I asked the rest of the band if we could record because we had one or two days left or something."

In 97.9X WBSX's Uninterrupted Disruption track by track, Chris said the band manager Dave Holmes asked him if he could "sneak that idea that I've heard on that?", making the band record it very quickly, and, eventually, asking Swedish producer Max Martin to finish the production of the song.

In an interview for Entercom, Chris gave more complete details about its recording process and meaning, stating: "I had a voice memo of the beginnings of th[e] song and I was saving it for the next thing we're doing, and then someone in the band was like, "Hey, you got anything a bit like this?" and I was like "Okay, may be tempted." And then we've been thinking so much about all these kids in refugee camps who are just like us, [...] people being labeled as just migrants or just refugees or just immigrants, and they're human people like everyone else, and we were thinking about particularly the young people who've been displaced, who just want to go home and be normal like everybody else. And that was very much in the air, and then this little voice memo, [...] then the song yourself made itself happen."

Composition

Although its uplitfting and joyous melody, "Orphans" lyrically tells the story of Rosaleem and her Baba (father, in Arabic), both victims of the April 2018 bombing of Damascus during the Syrian Civil War. It depicts their aspirations for the future and what they used to do in their everyday lives before the bombing, while Baba's children are left by themselves as orphans.

The song choir is composed by Chris' children, Apple and Moses Martin, in which the latter provided the backing vocals and also shares the songwriting credits. Besides them, friends of the band and some singers who worked previously with them, also joined the choir. They are: Aluna, Garine Antreassian, Jozzy (worked on "E-Lo"), Nadeen Fanous, Marwa Kreitem, Bashar Murad, Ben Oerlemans, Bill Rahko (band producer), and Norah Shaqur (worked on "Church"). On an interview for KROQ, Chris talked about the involvement of his kids on the band's work, linking it to "Orphans", stating: "When I was doing the demo of th[e] song, I just asked my children and a couple of their friends, and then, ultimately, loads of more people, if they would sing the chorus and they were so sweet about it, and of course we do paid them properly. [...] I really like to listen to them, to me they just make this song sound great."

Release

"Orphans" was released as a dual release, being the album's lead single, along with "Arabesque" as a co-lead single, on 24 October 2019. On its release date, before the scheduled time, an Instagram account was created under the name "Sticks" (@sticks1919), 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. After its release, the account was deleted.

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. The single artwork was designed by Pilar Zeta.

The band donated 10% of proceeds from the song to help charity Hopeland on their mission to ensure every child has a safe, loving family.

Muzi Remix

On 15 November 2019, the official remixed version of the song by South African DJ and singer Muzi was released under the title "Orphans [Muzi Remix]". The remix was accompanied of an animated lyric video produced by Impossible Brief and directed by James Zwadlo. At the end of the video, it shows a link to ourhopeland.org, a website designed to find solutions for the 25 million children who are separated from their families.

The animated lyric video was used in the background big screen during some live performances of the song.

Lyrics

[Intro: Chris Martin & Choir, Moses Martin]
I want to know when I can go
Back and get drunk with my friends
Boom boom kah, buba de kah
Boom boom kah, buba de kah
Boom boom kah, buba de kah

[Verse 1: Chris Martin]
Rosaleem of the Damascene
Yes, she had eyes like the moon
Would have been on the silver screen
But for the missile monsoon

[Refrain: Chris Martin & Choir]
She went (Woo-woo, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh)
Indigo up in heaven today
(Woo-woo, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh)
Bombs going boom-ba-ba-boom
She say

[Chorus: Chris Martin & Choir]
I want to know when I can go
Back and get drunk with my friends
I want to know when I can go
Back and be young again

[Verse 2: Chris Martin]
Baba would go where the flowers grow
Almond and peach trees in bloom
And he would know just when and what to sow
So golden and opportune

[Refrain: Chris Martin & Choir]
But he went (Woo-woo, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh)
Tulips the colour of honey today
(It's true, true, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh)
Bombs going boom-ba-ba-boom
He say

[Chorus: Chris Martin & Choir]
Oh, I want to know when I can go
Back and get drunk with my friends
I want to know when I can go
Back and be young again (Yeah)

[Bridge: Chris Martin]
Woo-woo, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh
Woo-woo, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh
Cherubim, Seraphim soon
Come sailing us home by the light of the moon

[Chorus: Chris Martin & Choir]
Oh, I want to know when I can go
Back and get drunk with my friends
I want to know when I can go
Back and feel home again

[Refrain: Chris Martin & Choir]
Woo-woo, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh
I guess we'll be raised on our own then
Woo-woo, woo-woo, ooh-ooh-ooh
'Cause I want to be with you 'til the world ends
I want to be with you 'til the whole world ends

[Outro: Moses Martin]
Boom boom kah, buba de kah
Boom boom kah, buba de kah
Boom boom kah, buba de kah
Boom

Music video

The music video for "Orphans" was released on 25 October 2019 and was directed by the band's longtime friend and collaborator, Mat Whitecross. It shows the development of the song from its earliest stages to the fully polished song, taking a behind-the-scenes look at its songwriting and recording process.

It first starts with an audio clip of Chris and his son, Moses, tuning the guitar and working out the drum rhythm for the song, what would later become its main riff, followed by a footage of Chris performing solo the melody on an acoustic guitar outside of Penn Station. It cuts to the studio recording process of the song, now including Jonny, Guy and Will parts, followed by an outside acoustic performance in a garden. Right after that it cuts to the video's "real" visual: The whole band dancing and performing with a children's choir on a beach in Malibu, singing the fully realized version of the song against a backdrop of blooming flowers, hovering birds, and a spinning, rustic-looking room.

The music video won the 2020 MTV VMAs for 'Best Rock' music video.

Coldplay - Orphans (Official Video)

Lyric video

Coldplay - Orphans (Official Lyric Video)

Official audio

Orphans

Critical reception

"Orphans" received positive reviews from critics. Dan Stubbs of NME stated that the song "is the most typically Coldplay-y in that we have your average straining-on-the-bog vocal from Chris Martin and that mood of euphoria tinged with a bit of the bittersweet that they've made their own. But this is Coldplay – for a long time now one of the world's biggest rock bands – sounding more like a big rock band than they have before."

Billboard editors have picked the track as one of the 100 best songs of 2019, stating: "The lead single off Coldplay's eighth studio album contains so many of the elements of a classic Coldplay song. It's got an upbeat and hopeful melody, Chris Martin's soaring voice on full display, and a shout-along chorus that features a full choir -- with lyrics that, on first listen, sound fairly celebratory. So it's ironic that the song's upbeat nature masks the seriousness of the song's lyrics: The song tells the story of a father and daughter; Syrian refugees who survived the Damascus bombing of 2018.

In a ranking of the band's entire discography, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of Parachutes (2000), NME said: "A bassy groove underscores backing vocals from young kids singing that three-beat hook here, and sees "Orphans" joins the likes of "A Sky Full of Stars" and "A Head Full of Dreams" as an easily loveable pop banger. [...] From a distance, it’s a top-tier bop, and up close, the depth makes it even greater."

Trivia

• The music video features a studio version of the song with double clappings at the end, absent from the album version, as well as background percussion during the bridge.