Monday, December 9, 2024

Chris Martin and Coldplay Learn Their Lesson from 2019 Dud Album, Return in “American Idol” Spotlight

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A year and a half ago, November 2019: Coldplay released a new album, “Everyday People,” and watched it sink like a stone. Initial sales were only around 35,000 copies. Total sales now are about twice that. It was a disaster.

What happened? No singles? No marketing? The same thing happened this winter to Nick Jonas. It hurts.

Now Coldplay is coming back. Tonight, Chris Martin was a mentor on “American Idol” for an hour. The kids were forced to sing his songs. Then Coldplay gave a world premiere of their new single, “Higher Power.” Released on Friday with a lot of {“Idol” promotion, it’s number 5 on iTunes.

‘Higher Power’ also during a special link-up to the International Space Station, with the song receiving its first play on an “extraterrestrial transmission” to French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is on board the ship.

A new album will be announced momentarily. After the “Everyday People” debacle, you can see that Martin — who can’t money from stadium tours right — is putting some effort into making all this new music work. What does it cost to take over “American Idol”? The price is worth it. And Martin was smart. Instead of getting involved with the bogus Global Citizen show this weekend, he chose a real program on a broadcast network. That has to work, right?

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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