How Chris Martin Fixed Himself

After 20 years of leading one of the world’s biggest bands, Chris Martin decided he was done pleasing other people — and hit a new creative high

- Jann S. Wenner

When coldplay first appeared in our pages, in 2000, Rolling Stone wondered: Were the new Brit-pop group “the next Radiohead? Or the next Verve, or Travis?” Today, it’s clear they were none of those things. Over the past 20 years, Coldplay have carved out their own place in the world: as stadium-filling, genre-defying optimists in an age of irony. They are arguably the biggest band in the world today — their tour behind 2015’s A Head Full of Dreams grossed $523 million, a run they kicked off with a set at the Super Bowl with Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. All of that success caused frontman Chris Martin to take a step back. “There was a slight sense of peace,” he says on a recent afternoon in New York. “All we have to do now is follow the muse.” Coldplay’s eighth album, Everyday Life, is unlike anything they’ve made before, a meditative double disc that embraces gospel, folk, and even Afrobeat. Martin addresses such hot-button subjects as gun control, mass incarceration, and racism (“Trouble in Town” features audio of Philadelphia police officers harassing innocent black suspects), as well as fatherhood (he has two children with ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow). He’s proud of the album, even if he’s a little uncertain of its commercial viability. That contentment is something Martin has been working toward as long as he’s been writing. Here’s how he got there.

What was the urge in you to play music? When did that start for you?