COLDPLAY
A Sky Full Of Stars
«A Sky Full of Stars» is a song by the British rock band Coldplay. It was released in May 2014 as the second single from their sixth album, Ghost Stories (2014). An exclusive digital EP version of it, with the B-sides «All Your Friends», «Ghost Story» and «O (Reprise)», came out in the following weeks, being considered the band’s eleventh extended play.
The band co-wrote and co-produced the song with Avicii and received production assistance from Paul Epworth, Daniel Green and Rik Simpson. It was recorded at The Bakery and The Beehive in North London, England. Upon its release, «A Sky Full of Stars» garnered mostly positive reviews from music critics and charted inside the top 10 in over 16 countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States.
A music video for the song was directed by Mat Whitecross and was released on 19 June 2014. The single peaked at number one in Italy, Israel, Luxembourg, Portugal, Lebanon, and the Walloon region of Belgium. It also topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. It was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Grammy Awards.
Track information
- Released September 6, 2012
- Recorded 2012
- Genre Pop rock
- Label RCA
- Songwriter(s)
Michael BusbeeBen West
Composition
«A Sky Full of Stars» marks the band’s first dance track, being outlined as an EDM track with house influences. A piano-centric song which is written in the key of G♭ major, the track opens as a piano ballad, with progressive house-influenced electronic music that plays out in between verses. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, the song follows a chord progression of E♭m7– Bmaj9 –G♭–B♭m(♭6) with a tempo of 125 beats per minute, and the vocals span from A♭3 to G♭5. The track has been described as «[falling] in line with the synth-heavy soundscapes of ‘Midnight’, but with more danceable flavor». The song’s repeating chord sequence and varied melody was inspired by the work of American pop singer Katy Perry and Nirvana’s «Smells Like Teen Spirit» (1991).
Chart performance
Within 24 hours of its iTunes release, the track had sold 121,690 units worldwide, peaking at number one in 86 countries on the iTunes Store Charts.[citation needed] As of July 2014, the song reached the Top 10 of nearly every country it charted in, including the bands’ homeland country, the United Kingdom where it reached number 9 on UK Singles Chart. The single enjoyed massive commercial success in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, the song reached number two on the ARIA Charts, their highest-charting single since 2008’s «Viva La Vida», and became one of their three highest-charting singles in the country. In New Zealand, the song reached number two on New Zealand Singles Chart, becoming the band’s highest-charting single to date and their fifth top-ten single in the country.
On the issue dated 21 May 2014, the song reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, making it their third top 10 hit and first since their number-one single «Viva la Vida» in 2008. It also became their first number-one single on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart. «A Sky Full of Stars» was the band’s second number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The song has sold over a million digital copies in the U.S. as of November 2014.
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
This song was recorded during the sessions for Ghost Stories with Avicii. The Swedish EDM artist was invited by Chris Martin to play the piano and his imprint can be heard on the song’s majestic piano lines. Speaking with BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, Martin, who usually tinkles the ivories on Coldplay’s recordings admitted he felt like he was cheating on the band when he asked the Swede to play the piano instead of him.
Chris Martin said on Fuse: «What that song represents on Ghost Stories is the release after you’ve climbed the mountain – after you’ve done anything challenging. That’s why that song is so unashamedly happy and danceable: because that’s what it needed to be. I love singing it. I know we didn’t break the mold, but it’s just so fun to play.
A house-influenced piano-centric song with pounding bass drum, this is the closest Coldplay have come to recording a dance track.
Avicii also produced the track along with the band and Ghost Stories producers Paul Epworth, Daniel Green and Rik Simpson.
Martin told the hosts on The Kevin & Bean Show that after coming up with the idea for this song, he did something different. «What happens with our songs generally is that they get sent from the universe, however they come,» he said. «I don’t know where they come from, in the middle of the night they come through and I take it to the rest of the band and it gets layered up, like a car being built or something.
