Genre Pop
R&B | Label Parlophone | |
Released 16 November 2012 (2012-11-16) Recorded July–September 2011 at
The Bakery and The Beehive
(London, England) Length 3:13 (album version)
2:47 (single edit) Writer(s) Guy Berryman
Jonny Buckland
Will Champion
Chris Martin | ||
"Up in Flames" is a song written and recorded 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.
Contents
Background and recording
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.
Critical reception
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."
Live performances
"Up in Flames" was first performed live in a near-complete state in front of cameras at the Austin City Limits taping on 16 September 2011. It was performed a second time before Mylo Xyloto's release on the 20 October broadcast of the American talk show The Colbert Report. It would also later become a signature track on the setlist of all dates of the Mylo Xyloto Tour, first played live in front of a global audience on 26 October 2011 at the AMEX Unstaged concert in Madrid.