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1[[quoteright:500:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coldplay_xandy.jpg]]
2 [[caption-width-right:500:''"You and me are drifting in outer space...together."'']]
3
4-> ''You're in control, is there anywhere you wanna go?''
5-> ''You're in control, is there anything you wanna know?''
6-> ''The future's for discovering''
7-> ''The space in which we're travelling''
8-->-- "'''Square One'''"
9
10''X&Y'' is the third album by English AlternativeRock band Music/{{Coldplay}}, released in 2005.
11
12The album is noteworthy for having the most TroubledProduction of any work in the band's discography. The first sessions initially had Ken Nelson on production, continuing from ''Music/{{Parachutes}}'' and ''Music/ARushOfBloodToTheHead''. However, the band was dissatisfied with the resulting material, leading to them scrapping a lot of it and starting all over again, bringing Danton Supple to the role of producer instead. With the band's necessity to perfect their craft, [[ToughActToFollow especially considering the success of their previous album]], plus internal conflicts, the exit of manager Phil Harvey and imposed deadlines made by Creator/{{EMI}} caused further complications for the band.
13
14The album continues the {{arena rock}} sound of ''A Rush of Blood to the Head'' and introduces {{electronic|Music}} elements, featuring an extensive use of synthesizers and multi-layered production. Its lyrics are much more introspective and existential than on previous albums, focusing on vocalist Chris Martin's doubts and fears about the world.
15
16''X&Y'' was a commercial success upon release, becoming one of the highest-selling albums of 2005 and peaking at #1 in more than thirty countries. It also spawned the hits "Speed of Sound" and "Fix You". Critical reception, while positive, was relatively less enthusiastic, with a common opinion being that the album [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks sounded too much like the band's previous album but not as memorable]], with the biggest point of contention being the cited similarities between "Speed of Sound" and "Clocks", the latter being a hit single from ''A Rush of Blood to the Head''.
17
18Despite the album's success, [[CreatorBacklash the band doesn't feel as enthusiastic about it in retrospect]], with Martin stating that he feels they didn't achieve their fullest potential with it; they have rarely played any of its songs on subsequent tours apart from "Fix You".
19
20No relation to ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY''.
21
22----
23!!Tracklist:
24[[AC:X]]
25# "Square One" (4:47)
26# "What If" (4:57)
27# "White Shadows" (5:28)
28# "Fix You" (4:54)
29# "Talk" (5:11)
30# "X&Y" (4:34)
31
32[[AC:Y]]
33[numlist:7]
34# "Speed of Sound" (4:48)
35# "A Message" (4:45)
36# "Low" (5:32)
37# "The Hardest Part" (4:25)
38# "Swallowed in the Sea" (3:58)
39# "Twisted Logic" (5:01)
40# "Til Kingdom Come" (4:10) ({{hidden track}})
41[/numlist]
42
43----
44!!''See it in a new trope rising, see it break on your horizon''
45* AlbumTitleDrop: Subverted, although it has a TitleTrack, the lyrics "X and Y" actually appear in the BSide "The World Turned Upside Down".
46* AlienSky: Invoked in "Speed of Sound":
47--> ''Look up, I look up at night''\
48''Planets are moving at the speed of light''
49* AlliterativeTitle: "'''S'''peed of '''S'''ound"
50* DeathByMusicVideo: The video for "Talk" ends with the band in their UFO being eaten by a giant robot because one of the members stole its power knob earlier.
51* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The video for "Talk", invoking the style of early sci-fi movies, where the band is traveling in a FlyingSaucer and wake up a giant robot. [[EatenAlive Which then eats their ship, with them in it]].
52* EatenAlive: In the music video for "Talk", the band members suffer this fate at the hands of a giant toy robot at the end -- though to be fair, one of the band members stole a knob from the robot.
53* GreenAesop: "Twisted Logic" complains about how people "drilled and invaded," a reference to Western wars over oil in the middle east, and expresses concern that there will be "computers searching for life on earth" in the future after humans are dead.
54* HiddenTrack: The album-closing hidden song "Til Kingdom Come" (left off the tracklist, but credited as [[LuckyCharmsTitle "+"]] on the disc and booklet) is uniquely given its own standalone track.
55* InTheStyleOf: Chris has retroactively admitted to "Speed of Sound" most directly stemming from listening to a lot of Music/KateBush, with the song's drumbeat taking explicit leads from Bush's song "Running Up That Hill".
56* LuckyCharmsTitle: "Til Kingdom Come", [[HiddenTrack while officially left off the track list]], is credited as "+" in the ''X&Y'' disc label and album booklet.
57* MinimalisticCoverArt: ''X&Y'' features its album title written in the Baudot code above a blue background.
58* NonAppearingTitle: "X&Y", "Twisted Logic".
59* OneWordTitle: "Low".
60* {{Sampling}}: "Talk" takes its main riff from Music/{{Kraftwerk}}'s "Computer Love", reproduced on electric guitar.
61* SpaceRock: ''X&Y'' takes the sound of the previous album and expands it with elements of that make it closer to it. "Square One", "White Shadows", "Talk", "X&Y", "Speed of Sound" and the BSide "Things I Don't Understand" are arguably straight up examples of space rock.
62* TakeThat: "Twisted Logic" levels these at George W. Bush over the Iraq War through its lines about people who "drilled and invaded" someone else's land and made unjustified claims over what they had.
63* TitleTrack: "X&Y".
64----
65-->''Lights will guide you home\
66And ignite your bones\

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