Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland Zoom’d into Elvis Duran and the Morning Show on Thursday morning (Oct. 14) to discuss the joy of collaborating with K-pop superstars BTS on the hit Music of the Spheres single “My Universe” and how the unexpected team-up came together.
“Someone said to us 18 months ago, ‘oh BTS want to do a song with you,’” Martin said, telling Duran that the group love the septet’s music, but weren’t sure if a joint song made sense. “That’s never going to work, that’s ridiculous,” Martin recalled thinking. But during the Spheres sessions, when “My Universe” manifested, “it felt like this was the song for BTS and us to do,” Martin said, describing the track as being about “love that’s difficult that has to transcend borders.”
Once the superstar summit of the “two weird bands” came together, Martin said it felt “very natural and it’s been an amazing experience and we love them deeply.” And while it’s difficult to bridge the large geographical gap at the moment due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Buckland said that they hope “one day” they’ll get it together and perform the single in person.
Martin, however, joked that when they have stood on the same stage together, the 40-something band look like the 20-something septet’s “weird uncle” and it makes them feel way old. “We look like the people that paid for the dance lesson or something,” quipped Martin. “It’s a strange visual because you get these seven gorgeous young men and… what’s the rock with all the… what’s the one with all the presidents carved in the rock? Looks like they’re standing in front of a sort of soft rock Mt. Rushmore.”
Last week, “My Universe” gave Coldplay their first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper since 2008, representing the longest span between Hot 100 No. 1s for an artist since Cher scored her first No. 1 in nearly 25 years when “Believe” topped the listing in 1999. Meanwhile, the song is BTS’ third No. 1 in 2021 alone, and sixth dating back to their “Dynamite” debuting atop the chart in Sept. 2020 — both high marks for any artist over the respective timespans.
Music of the Spheres drops on Friday (Oct. 15) and in addition to announcing a series of immersive pop-up events no Friday and Saturday (Oct. 16) in Tokyo, Berlin, London and New York they’re calling “The Atmospheres,” Coldplay revealed the initial slate of dates for their 2022 global stadium tour on Thursday.
Watch the interview below.