Both Coldplay and N.E.R.D. have something to prove on their new albums, and neither disappoint. Kidzworld has the reviews.

Coldplay :: Viva La Vida

Since they released Parachutes in 2000, Coldplay have been the posterboys for melodic and sometime melodramatic pop-rock. With Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay tries to experiment and push the envelope as they strive to become a legendary rock band in the pattern of U2. For a lot of bands this would be very difficult, but Coldplay succeeds on this album. Songs like Violet Hill and Viva La Vida have perfect melodies and just enough power to rock out a concert hall, and other tracks like Lost! and Yes, add a healthy dose of experimentational, symphonic sound to become something we haven’t quite heard before. Basically, Coldplay floats just far enough away from Chris Martin’s standard piano ballad equations, and shake things up without moving things out of place.

Fun Facts

The album title, Viva La Vida, takes its name from a painting by 20th century Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

The album sold 125,000 copies in its first day in the UK.

Parts of the album were recorded in churches and other historical locations in South America and Spain while the band toured.

The album is only 47 minutes long because Coldplay wanted the listener to be able to enjoy the entire album at once, like while driving to or from work.

Hot Tracks

Violet Hill, Lost!, Viva La Vida.

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N.E.R.D :: Seeing Sounds

As the Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo create sick beats for stars like Madonna and Justin Timberlake, so when they team up with Shae Haley to mix a healthy dose of rock and hip hop as N.E.R.D., you’re guaranteed to get something you haven’t heard before. In the past, N.E.R.D. has dropped huge club rocking singles like Rockstar and She Wants to Move, and Everbody Nose and Spaz follow their classic chanting chorus plus hyper mish-mash of electro-rock beats. N.E.R.D. is sometimes silly, funky, soulful, and hardcore, and always some combination of sound that is guaranteed to invade the airwaves.

Fun Facts

N.E.R.D. stands for No-one Ever Really Dies.

The album’s second single, Spaz, was featured in a commercial for the Microsoft Zune.

From April to June 2008, N.E.R.D. toured with Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark Tour.

The album title was inspired by synethesia, a neurological phenomenon that combines two different senses.

Hot Tracks

Everybody Nose, Spaz, Yeah You.

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