Hymn for the Weekend

Background

The song was debuted on Annie Mac's BBC radio show on 30 November 2015, and Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman dialed in after the song aired to talk about his brush with royalty. According to Berryman, lead singer Chris Martin originally wanted the song to be a party song with the lyrics "drinks on me, drinks on me", but his bandmates didn't think that would go well with their fans. Martin's longtime friend Beyoncé was asked to sing on the song, and she accepted the request.

Martin corroborated Berryman's story about the band protesting him singing, "Drinks on me, drinks on me" in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. According to Martin, the original kernel was that he "was listening to Flo Rida or something", and he thought, "it's such a shame that Coldplay could never have one of those late-night club songs, like "Turn Down for What". I thought I’d like to have a song called 'Drinks on Me' where you sit on the side of a club and buy everyone drinks because you're so fucking cool," Martin recalled. "I was chuckling about that, when this melody came, 'drinks on me, drinks on me', then the rest of the song came out. I presented it to the rest of the band and they said, 'We love this song, but there's no way you can sing "drinks on me."' So that changed into 'drink from me' and the idea of having an angelic person in your life. Then that turned into asking Beyoncé to sing on it."

Composition

"Hymn for the Weekend" is written in the key of C minor set in a 4
4 time signature at a moderate tempo of 90 beats per minute.

Critical reception

Jody Rosen of Billboard called it "the album's grooviest". Helen Brown of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Beyoncé makes more of her appearance on 'Hymn for the Weekend', bringing her chunky harmonies and no-nonsense brass section to a peppy little excursion into indie R&B which opens with a paradisiacal fanfare and finds Martin dropping out of his falsetto autopilot into a more raw voice." Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe wrote "... it's with the third track, 'Hymn for the Weekend', that the album truly lifts off on the wings of an angelic choir (including Beyoncé), a swaggering piano, and a euphoric, lightly funky track bolstering Martin's exclamations of feeling high."

In a mixed review, Carl Williot of Idolator wrote, "The Beyoncé-assisted 'Hymn for the Weekend' almost equals (the album's) energy, but it lacks the drama of 'Princess of China'", adding, that as a track featuring Beyoncé "you'd expect a show-stopping moment." He concluded "the guys sound like total goobers trying to do the club swagger thing, like a drunk dad doing the rap dance du jour at a wedding."

Music video

According to The Times of India, the video was shot in October 2015 at various Indian cities including Varanasi, Worli Village, Mumbai and Kolkata. The fort showcased at the start and in between is Bassein Fort aka Saint Sebastian's Fort located in Vasai, Mumbai. The video was also shot at the famous Maratha Mandir theatre which is reputed for showcasing a single film for 15 straight years. The video is themed on the North Indian festival of Holi. The video was filmed by Ben Mor, and was released on 29 January 2016. The video features Beyoncé and Indian actress Sonam Kapoor.

The music video was criticized on Indian social media network for its stereotypical portrayal of Indian society.

In other media

On 22 November 2016, the song was made available as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band 4.

Live performance

The song was performed for the first time during the 2016 Brit Awards on 24 February 2016.

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from A Head Full of Dreams liner notes.

Coldplay

Additional musicians