"Up in Flames" | ||||
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Single by Coldplay | ||||
from the album Mylo Xyloto | ||||
Released | 16 November 2012 | |||
Recorded | July–September 2011 | |||
Studio | The Bakery and The Beehive (London, England) | |||
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Label | Parlophone | |||
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Coldplay singles chronology | ||||
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"Up in Flames" is a song by British rock band Coldplay for their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto (2011). It was released for radio airplay in Italy on 16 November 2012.
The last song to be recorded for the album, after most of the songs had already been mixed and mastered, "Up in Flames" was first conceived by lead singer Chris Martin in the hours leading up to the band's headlining performance at the 2011 iTunes Festival in London on 22 July 2011. Portions of the song, including the first instance of electronic drums in a Coldplay song, were recorded backstage at the Roundhouse. The track was rush-recorded to make it on the final version of the album, completed and issued to publishers on 9 September 2011. In an interview with Perth Now, Martin spoke about the recording of "Up in Flames":
You know when you're finished. We don't need to write any more songs now. We were feeling like we were missing one, that was it. It's basially quite a schizophrenic record. We're still putting it together. There's some very loud stuff, some very quiet stuff, it's seeing if they can live in harmony together.
Idolator writer Robbie Daw gave the debut Austin City Limits performance of "Up in Flames" a positive review, describing it as "immense" and "hypnotic in its simplicity, but devastatingly, achingly gorgeous." Michael Roffman of Consequence of Sound gave the performance a mixed review, writing: "It's soothing, if not monotonous, but it's no 'Warning Sign'."
In his review of Mylo Xyloto, Niall Doherty of Q wrote that the track "puts Coldplay back in well-traversed ballad territory" and was positive towards the track: "The chorus – Martin repeating the title over and over in an echo-chamber falsetto – suggests that the days of autopilot Coldplay are over, beautifully simple and using the melody as its dynamic. Again, just when you think it might take off, it ends. Coldplay have learned to make their point a little more succinctly. Stunning."