Paradise (song)

In 2010, producers of the X Factor reality show asked Chris Martin to write a song for the winner of the seventh season. The song “Paradise” was originally written for this very purpose, but Coldplay drummer Will Champion insisted that the song be included in the upcoming new studio album ^[4] .

The song premiered on September 12 at7:50 on the Chris Moyles show on BBC Radio 1 ^{[5] [6]} .

On November 30, the song was nominated for a Grammy in the nomination " Best Pop Performance by a Duet or Group " ^[7] . In 2012, at the MTV Video Awards ceremony, the video clip for the song won the nomination “Best Rock Video” ^[8] .

In early 2012, the single topped the British charts , becoming Coldplay's second hit number one on this chart (after Viva la Vida in 2008) ^[9] .

Coldplay performed this song at the closing ceremony of the XIV Summer Paralympic Games in 2012 in London ^[10] .

The video clip for Paradise was directed by Matt Whitecross ^[11] , although it had previously been announced that Hype Williams ^[12] would have shot the video. The group turned to Whitecross just a day before the plot of the clip was finalized, and a few hours before the director was supposed to fly to shoot in South Africa . Chris Martin came up with a plot in which the clip was shot in the form of a documentary about nature. The costumes of elephants and a unicycle needed for filming the film crew had to look in a hurry. The clip was released on October 19, 2011 ^[13] .

In the video, a man dressed in an elephant costume (Chris Martin) escapes from the zoo ( Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne , Hertfordshire , England ) and, first, on a stolen bicycle, and then on the subway arrives at Heathrow Airport . Having made it onto the plane and hiding in a suitcase , he enters Cape Town. Then, Johannesburg city ​​views appear in the video, including the Nelson Mandela bridge and the Braamfontein railroad tracks. Dancing in front of passers-by, he collects some money (67.05 rand - approximately £ 5.34 or $ 8.40), goes to the store and buys a unicycle (there was not enough money for a regular one). Further, the character rides a monocycle along the highway, simultaneously voting unsuccessfully. Finally, he arrives in the savannah , where he meets three of the same "elephants" (the rest of the participants Coldplay). Rejoiced at the meeting, all together they begin to play musical instruments and sing. Next are the sections of the concert video, where Coldplay is dressed in the same costumes (not completely, but only the heads and gloves - “paws”). The video ends with four “elephants” running along the savannah in the direction of the retreating camera.

The video was shot in London, Cape Town, Klein-Carr in the Western Cape and Johannesburg ^[14] . Bicycle shop is Woodstock Cycleworks in Woodstock , Cape Town. The sidebar with a concert performance was taken from a group performance on October 8, 2011 at Sokker City in Nasrek , Johannesburg, which was part of a tour in support of album Mylo Xyloto . At the concert, after the song was performed, the band members put on their heads and gloves from costumes, and depicted the performance of the last part of the song to the sound of a studio recording ^[15] .

The video clip posted on the group’s official channel on YouTube has more than one billion views ^[13] .

Another video clip for this song was shot by the art group Shynola (they are also the authors of the video for the song “ Strawberry Swing ”). This was the first video, and was filmed before the idea with the elephants ^[16] . The plot of this clip is the life of a little girl who got out of prison ^[17] .

A special video was made for the closing ceremony of the XIV Summer Paralympic Games in London in 2012 and was shown at the ceremony during breaks between its parts. The video contains excerpts from Paralympic competitions.

In January 2012, The Piano Guys duet, with the participation of British singer of Nigerian descent Alex Boye, recorded a video / cover version of a new age song called “Peponi” (in Swahili translation - “Paradise”) ^[71] .

• Single page on the official Coldplay website
• Paradise on Discogs
• Lyrics for "Paradise" on the official Coldplay website
• Paradise on YouTube