Music

Music Review: Princess of China (ft. Rihanna) by Coldplay

The partnership of Coldplay and Rihanna is a tricky one to decode. On the east, there is supposedly one of the greatest rock bands to of come out Her Majesty’s kingdom. Whilst on the west, we have Rihanna. One of the most successful heroines ever to abuse the genre of pop.

With that mentioned, this track from ‘Mylo Xyloto’ does work. This is down to Coldplay becoming bound and determined to achieve the Rihanna method of play. It’s a shame for them to give the one fingered salute towards their roots which they built their foundations on. However, this turn of direction seen in ‘Princess of China’ is welcomed with tentative open arms. After clawing through the chart heading funky synths and the you’ve-heard-it-before intro, ‘Princess of China’ becomes interesting.

Even though lyrically, it doesn’t travel deeper than the Mariana Trench, Coldplay are able to pull them from both ends like a slinky with help from its laid back tempo, seen in the songs verses.  The frequent, systematic single pound of the drum holds the songs momentum like a strict conductor.

Whilst it would have been generous to see something that’ll tickle the brain waves other than ‘’la-la-la,’’ those simple combinations are what helps safety pin the interchange between Rihanna and Coldplay’s verses, as well as in the intro. ‘’I could’ve been a princess, you’d be a king,’’ claims Rihanna, is a unique way to scale up the size of what sounds like an everyday, normal relationship break-up that the song is documenting.

She is able to offer more in this number vocally than her previous single ‘Where Have You Been’, especially seen in the opening ‘’ohhh,’’ and just after that before her verse when she pushes to hold the long notes.

Princess of China does go some way towards proving it’s possible to fuse together two sides of the same coin. Whilst it’s difficult to accept the new Coldplay style of all out pop, at least they do it without butchering anything. After a few plays, I’m somewhat ashamed to say that’s I’ve grown affectionate towards this reach out at chart success. Therefore, I’ll give it an unseen 7/10.

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