Up&Up
2016 single by Coldplay

"Up&Up" is a song by British rock band Coldplay from their seventh studio album, A Head Full of Dreams (2015). It was released as the third single of the record on 22 April 2016 by Parlophone. Background vocals in the song are provided by Beyoncé, Annabelle Wallis and Merry Clayton. A music video for the track, directed by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, was released on 16 May 2016. It features a guitar solo by Noel Gallagher, and was performed by the band at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show and the Glastonbury Festival in 2016.
01Background
The song contains a chorus choir, which featured nearly all the artists who have collaborated with the group, including Brian Eno, the children and guests of the four musicians, plus Beyoncé. Guitarist and singer Noel Gallagher also contributed a guitar solo, which was omitted in the radio edit.

02Music video
The band had released teasers on their social media accounts leading up to the video release. The music video directed by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia was released on 16 May 2016. The video has been described on the band's website as a "poignant, surrealist montage which alludes to contemporary issues." The video itself consists of over-layered visuals, and has the band playing the song in various landscapes and locations. One of the locations used is the Croatian mountain range of Biokovo, upon which Chris Martin appears to be seated. Heyman and Mugglia have been credited for their creative use of stock footage throughout the video.
Scenes and visual effects for the video were created by GloriaFX, a Ukraine-based visual effects company, headed by Anatolii Kuzmytskyi in Ukraine and by Max Colt in the US. Martin called it "one of the best videos ever made". Scenes include "a volcano that pops out popcorn, a baby that flies on the wing of a plane, and skydivers who jump into a bowl of pasta".
The band's lead singer, Chris Martin feels that its visual was one of best videos to be made. He says ''The video is, I'm going to drop the mic here and say, I think it's one of the best videos people have made. Even if you take the music away. That's my point".
Billboard's Chris Payne described the music video as "appropriately epic" with "a heady, shoot-for-the-stars type of statement". Carl Williott of Idolator, who was reserved towards the song itself, felt that its video "elevates it thanks to some artfully trippy visuals". MTV UK called it "weird and wonderful in every respect" and "magical yet poignant".
03Accolades
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Camerimage Film Festival | Best Music Video | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematography in a Music Video | Nominated | |||
| Ciclope Festival | Music Video, Direction | Nominated | ||
| Music Video, Visual Effects | Gold | |||
| London International Awards | Music Video, Grand LIA | Won | ||
| Music Video, Best Music Video | Gold | |||
| Music Video, Best Direction | Gold | |||
| Los 40 Music Awards | International Video of the Year | Won | ||
| MTV Europe Music Awards | Best Video | Nominated | ||
| MTV Video Music Awards | Best Direction | Nominated | ||
| Best Visual Effects | Won | |||
| MTV Video Music Awards Japan | Best Group Video, International | Nominated | ||
| Best Rock Video | Nominated | |||
| NRJ Music Awards | Video of the Year | Nominated | ||
| Q Awards | Best Video | Nominated | ||
| Telehit Awards | Video of the Year | Won | ||
| UK Music Video Awards | Best Rock/Indie Video | Won | ||
| Best Visual Effects in a Video | Nominated | |||
| 2017 | AICP Show | Music Video | Won | |
| Andy Awards | Video/Cinema, Direction | Bronze | ||
| Video/Cinema, Special Effects | Silver | |||
| Berlin Music Video Awards | Best Visual Effects (Vania Heymann) | Won | ||
| Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity | Excellence in Music Video | Silver | ||
| Visual Effects | Silver | |||
| D&AD Awards | Music Video, General Field: Wood Pencil | Won | ||
| Music Video, Special Effects: Graphite Pencil | Won | |||
| Grammy Awards | Best Music Video | Nominated | ||
| MTV Italian Music Awards | Best Music Video | Nominated | ||
| The One Show | Branded Entertainment: Music Videos | Silver | ||
| Moving Image Craft: Visual Effects | Gold | |||
| Webby Awards | Video & Film, Music Video | Won | ||
| Žebřík Music Awards | Best Foreign Video | 2nd place |
04Live performances
After giving fans a live performance preview of the album on 21 November 2015 in Los Angeles, Martin said: "This is kind of the song we've been waiting to write for 15 years." The band performed the song at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show held on 7 February 2016 in Santa Clara, California. They were joined by Bruno Mars and Beyoncé while singing the last verses. During the performance at Glastonbury Festival on 26 June 2016, the band were joined on stage by Chris Martin's children, Apple and Moses, who helped with the backing vocals.
The song was used to close the A Head Full of Dreams Tour. The live performance on 15 November 2017 in La Plata, Buenos Aires with an extended outro is included in Live in Buenos Aires. Live recordings of the song have been released with the Butterfly Package as well as the Japanese exclusive live album ‘Love in Tokyo’ released in 2018.
05Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Up&Up" | 6:45 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Up&Up" (Radio Edit) | 3:58 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Up&Up" (Freedo Remix) | 3:30 |
06Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from A Head Full of Dreams liner notes.
Coldplay
- Guy Berryman, bass guitar, keyboards
- Jonny Buckland, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
- Will Champion, drums, backing vocals, programming
- Chris Martin, lead vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
Additional musicians
- Merry Clayton, vocals
- Beyoncé Knowles, vocals
- Annabelle Wallis, vocals
- Blue Ivy Carter, vocals
- Moses Martin, vocals, tambourine
- Noel Gallagher, second guitar solo
07Charts
Weekly charts
|
Monthly charts
Year-end charts
|
08Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | Platinum | 70,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI) | 2× Platinum | 100,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ) | Gold | 15,000‡ |
| Poland (ZPAV) | Gold | 25,000‡ |
| Spain (Promusicae) | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 400,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
09Release history
| Region | Date | Format | Version | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various | 4 December 2015 | Digital download | Radio edit | Parlophone | |
| United Kingdom | 22 April 2016 | Contemporary hit radio | Original | ||
| Italy | 20 May 2016 | Warner | |||
| Various | 16 September 2016 | Digital download | Freedo remix | Parlophone |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Up&Up”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Coldplay, Up&Up, Artwork.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
- Up&Up by Coldplay (Screenshot).jpg by Coldplay / Parlophone, Fair use
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