The Coldplay Music Video “Speed of Sound” is so relaxing. The “Speed of Sound” will allow you to let go of your body and let your soul free. Free to fly up high into the heavens and explore all the possibilities. Listen now!
Coldplay create sparse, emotional soundscapes, dripping with melancholy. The London-based quartet is singer Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion. Their debut album, Parachutes, was released in late 2000 in the U.S., and they quickly became a sensation. The record went No. 1 in the U.K. charts and won Best Alternative Music Album at the 2002 Grammys. Marked by Martin’s falsetto-happy vocals, songs like “Yellow” and “Shiver” employ stop/start dynamics that allow serene verses to build to a crescendo, centering on the well-trodden theme of love. Sophomore effort A Rush of Blood to the Head took home two Grammys and earned a spot on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. Hits “Clocks” and “In My Place” were wistful and romantic, labeled by some as radio-friendly Radiohead. The group’s third album, XandY, became the best-selling album of 2005, and “Speed of Sound” topped the year’s charts worldwide. After conquering the charts and the Grammys, Coldplay shifted their focus from chart-topping anthems to a more experimental approach for their fourth album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (which nevertheless topped charts upon its release). With ambient maestro Brian Eno co-producing, the 2008 album was an intriguing progression for the band, featuring a mix of global influences, classical strings, heavy piano and glistening bits of dreamy electronics.
Talent and a dose of good luck got Barbados-born Rihanna signed to Def Jam when she was 16 years old. She was discovered by producer Evan Rogers, who was visiting Barbados in 2003, and went on to so impress Def Jam CEO Jay-Z that he grabbed her for a multi-album contract. The singer’s first single, “Pon De Replay,” was released in June 2005, with the full album Music of the Sun dropping in August 2005. But her big break came in 2006 with the release of the single “S.O.S.” and the subsequent album A Girl Like Me. The single, which sampled Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love,” was one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially popular songs of that year. Though Rihanna had basically moved away from dancehall, she was moving toward a new aesthetic that married R&B, synth-pop and hip-hop. She continued in this direction with 2007’s Good Girl Gone Bad, which featured the infectious singles “Umbrella” and “Shut Up and Drive.”
With her homespun charm, curly golden locks, and prodigious gift for songwriting, Taylor Swift is one of youngest Nashville newcomers to capture a national audience in years. When she was just 16, Swift’s first big single, “Tim McGraw,” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard country chart and held a spot in the top 10 for months. On the single’s success, Swift joined the ranks of teenage country queens like Tanya Tucker, Marie Osmond and LeAnn Rimes, who all charted as teenagers. Unlike those young chart-toppers, Swift wrote the song herself. Born in Wyomissing, Penn., in 1989, Swift began playing guitar at 12, and moved outside of Nashville with her family as a teen, and debuted at the Bluebird Cafe famed songwriter showcase. Her self-titled debut LP was issued in October of 2006 and was followed by much national touring.
Few of the millions and millions of people who bought the Dixie Chicks’ major label debut, Wide Open Spaces, knew that the band had already been together for almost a decade, playing the folk and bluegrass circuit. The group was started by champion fiddle player Martie Seidel and her banjo-playing sister Emily Irwin. They went through a succession of lead singers before settling on Natalie Maines in the late-1990s. Maines’ country pedigree is impressive, beginning with her father Lloyd Maines, a legendary pedal steel guitarist and studio luminary who has produced and played with Uncle Tupelo, Richard Buckner and Joe Ely, among others. With Maines in place, the Chicks dropped some of their bluegrass trappings in favor of a more conventional New Country sound. The fine-tuning paid off. Wide Open Spaces rocketed to the top of the charts, as did its follow-up Fly. But 2002’s aptly titled Home found the girls returning to their bluegrass roots (despite the pop-friendly cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide”), which was a well-timed choice considering that by then, country music fans were caught up in old-timey fever thanks to the O Brother, Where Art Thou phenomenon.
Top of the World Tour: Live was released in November of 2003, perfectly capturing the unstoppable energy and undying love for country music the Dixie Chicks exude on the live stage. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed and even boycotted by many media outlets after Maines test-drove the First Amendment on a London stage when she stated: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.” Following the short-lived Dixie Chicks boycott, the band released “I Hope” in 2005, a hit single recorded to garner charity funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Their seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way, was released in late May of 2006.