Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
| Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | |||||
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| Studio album by Coldplay | |||||
| Released | 12 June 2008 | ||||
| Recorded | November 2006 – April 2008 | ||||
| Studio | The Bakery, London; The Magic Shop, NYC; The Nunnery, Barcelona; A Church, Barcelona |
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| Genre | |||||
| Length | 45:49 | ||||
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| Producer | |||||
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| Coldplay studio album chronology | |||||
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| Singles from Viva la Vida | |||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 72/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The A.V. Club | B+ |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− |
| The Guardian | |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork Media | 6.9/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| Spin | |
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, often referred to as simply Viva la Vida, is the fourth studio album by the British alternative rock band Coldplay, released on 12 June 2008 on Parlophone. The album was named after a Spanish phrase that translates in English as "Live the life", although it can also be taken as "Long live life". Lyrically, the album contains references to love, life, death, and war.
Recording sessions for the album took place during June 2007 to April 2008 and featured production by Jon Hopkins, Rik Simpson, Markus Dravs, and Brian Eno. The album was their first to be produced by Eno. The band forced themselves to explore experimental styles, as Eno required every song on the album to sound different, and expanded their musical interests while recording Viva la Vida. The band wanted to make the album shorter than 42 minutes. Despite this, the album is longer than the length they intended. Development of the album delayed the release date several times. The album cover of Viva la Vida is the painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix.
Viva la Vida was both a critical and commercial success. Five songs were released in promotion of the album; "Violet Hill" and "Viva la Vida" in May 2008, "Lovers in Japan" and "Lost!" in November 2008, and "Strawberry Swing" in September 2009. "Viva la Vida" became the band's first song to reach number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It won Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards and was also nominated for Album of the Year. It was the best selling album of 2008. By 2011, the album had sold more than 10 million copies.Viva la Vida was re-released on 25 November 2008 in a deluxe edition containing the original album and the Prospekt's March EP.
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