Higher Power

"Higher Power" is Coldplay chasing joy with an almost desperate energy, and the desperation is what makes it interesting. Max Martin's production strips the band of guitars almost entirely, replacing them with a snapping electro-funk pulse, vocoded backing choruses, and a synth bassline that struts rather than swells — closer to late-period Daft Punk or a-ha than to anything on *Parachutes*. Chris Martin's vocal is pushed high and processed, chirping through the verses before the chorus opens into that familiar wide-armed release, and the lyric is unabashedly plain: someone makes him feel like he's got a higher power, like he's dancing in the street. There's no irony anywhere in it. The song was written for and premiered from the International Space Station, and that gimmick actually clarifies the intent — this is an album about smallness and awe, and this track is the moment of pure lift. Critics reasonably found it slight; that's the cost of a band this large deciding sincerity beats cool. It works as a morning song, the one you put on to trick yourself into a good mood, or on a run when you need the tempo to pull you forward and don't want to think about anything at all.