Music / Mylo Xyloto

"When you use your heart as a weapon,
then it hurts like heaven."

So we'll soar luminous and wired

We'll be glowing in the dark

— "Charlie Brown"

Mylo Xyloto is the fifth album by English Alternative Rock band Coldplay, released in 2011.

Musically, the album marks another large shift for the band, being heavily influenced by arena rock, electronic music and pop. Thematically, it is a Concept Album about a planet called Silencia, which is led by Major Minus, a totalitarian leader who has banned color and sound. It centers around two characters: Mylo, an enforcer of Major's regime, and Fly, the leader of the Sparker rebels. Both fall in love and join forces in order to defy the government.

The album was a huge success for Coldplay, reaching #1 in multiple countries and selling eight million copies worldwide. Critical reception, however, was mixed, with some praising the shift in direction while others felt that it was too overproduced and mainstream-sounding, a sentiment some fans also shared. Songs like "Paradise", "Charlie Brown", "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" and "Princess of China" (featuring Rihanna) were big hits, helping propel the band's mainstream success in the 2010s.

In 2013, a Mylo Xyloto Comic-Book Adaptation was released, with six issues being published by Bongo Comics.

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Tracklist

1. "Mylo Xyloto" (0:42)
2. "Hurts Like Heaven" (4:02)
3. "Paradise" (4:37)
4. "Charlie Brown" (4:45)
5. "Us Against the World" (3:59)
6. "M.M.I.X." (0:48)
7. "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" (04:00)
8. "Major Minus" (3:30)
9. "U.F.O." (2:17)
10. "Princess of China" (feat. Rihanna) (3:59)
11. "Up in Flames" (3:13)
12. "A Hopeful Transmission" (0:33)
13. "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" (3:54)
14. "Up with the Birds" (3:47)

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Every siren is a symphony; and every trope's a waterfall

• Album Intro Track: The title track, which then fades into "Hurts Like Heaven".
• Alliterative Name/Title: Major Minus.
• Animated Music Video: "Hurts Like Heaven".
• Arc Symbol: Every single song on the tracklist has its own symbol◊, some of them obvious but others only understandable in context (e.g. the butterfly representing "Paradise" is mentioned in the lyrics).
• Audience Participation Song: "Paradise".
• B-Side: "Moving to Mars", a progressive rock-inspired piano ballad featured in the "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" EP.
• Big Brother Is Watching You: "Major Minus", being the titular villain of the album, who is very much the Big Brother of the story.
  They got one eye watching you
  And one eye on what you do
  So be careful who it is you're talking to
• Character Title: "Major Minus" from Mylo Xyloto, despite being a Non-Appearing Title. It also doubles as an Antagonist Title, as he's the Big Bad of the Mylo Xyloto comic adaptations.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: There is a comic adaptation of Mylo Xyloto, released in early 2013.
• Concept Album: Mylo Xyloto has one hell of a story. It takes place in the Orwellian society of Silencia, run by Major Minus via media and propaganda. His goal is to strip the streets of sound and color to drive away creatures named feeders that use such energy to hunt. The two words in the album title are actually two names: Mylo is a silencer tasked in hunting down sparkers that create sparks with light and energy, and Xyloto is the sparker most wanted by Major Minus. Through Xyloto, Mylo discovers that he has sparker powers and is affiliated with the Car Kids, a sparker faction founded by his parents.
• Concept Video: "Hurts Like Heaven", serving as a prequel to Mylo Xyloto's Comic-Book Adaptation.
• Ethereal Choir: The strange child-like noises during the beginning, bridge and end of "Charlie Brown" can be this. Doubles as Creepy Children Singing.
• Fading into the Next Song: "Mylo Xyloto" transitions into "Hurts Like Heaven," "M.M.I.X." transitions into "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall," "U.F.O." transitions into "Princess of China," and "A Hopeful Transmission" transitions into "Don't Let It Break Your Heart," which then transitions into "Up With the Birds".
• Heartbeat Soundtrack: At the end of "Don't Let It Break Your Heart".
• Miniscule Rocking: The Title Track, "M.M.I.X." and "A Hopeful Transmission"
• Myth Arc: Described well on the Concept Album above.
• Non-Appearing Title: "Charlie Brown", "Major Minus" and "Princess of China".
• One-Word Title: "Paradise".
• Sampling:
  • "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" contains elements of Peter Allen's 1976 song "I Go to Rio".
  • The outro of "U.F.O." and the opening of "Princess of China" are bridged by a sample of ambience from the Title Track of Sigur Rós' Takk..., which then runs through the background of "Princess of China".
• Shout-Out:
  • "Us Against the World" references the gospel hymn "When the Saints Go Marching In".
  • One of the elephants in the music video for "Paradise" resembles Snorky sans hat and vest.
  • And of course there's "Charlie Brown". Although it the lyrics contains allusions to the character, the song itself never explicitly namedrops him, despite the fact he was mentioned in the lyrics at one point.
• Surreal Music Video: The video for "Paradise", which has Chris in an elephant suit escaping a zoo in London, trying to hitchhike his way to another country, stowing away inside a suitcase to South Africa, getting enough money to buy a unicycle, and finding the rest of Coldplay off the side of the road who are also wearing elephant suits. And then they all play together in elephant suits. After that, it cuts to footage of the band in an actual live concert playing while wearing the elephant heads and hands.
• Title Track: "Mylo Xyloto".
• Villain Song: "Major Minus" is about the titular dictator and his efforts to surveil everyone in Silencia.
• What If?: In "Princess of China", the narrator and his ex wonder what would have happened if they had stayed together.
• Word Purée Title: The title of the album. Those not familiar with the group might be weirded out about it as they might not know that it's supposed to represent the name of the protagonist.

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Then that light hits your eye
I know, I swear we'll find somewhere
The streets are paved with gold
Bullets fly, split the sky
But that's all right, sometimes
Sunlight comes streamin' through the holes