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Up&Up

2016 single by Coldplay

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

"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.

The music video makes extensive use of impossible imagery, including dolphins swimming in a sea situated underneath an inverted landmass
The music video makes extensive use of impossible imagery, including dolphins swimming in a sea situated underneath an inverted landmass

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

List of awards and nominations
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

Digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Up&Up"6:45
Digital download (Radio Edit)
No.TitleLength
1."Up&Up" (Radio Edit)3:58
Digital download (Freedo Remix)
No.TitleLength
1."Up&Up" (Freedo Remix)3:30

06Credits and personnel

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

Coldplay

Additional musicians

07Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Up&Up"
Chart (2016-2017) Peak
position
Argentina (Monitor Latino) 3
Australia (ARIA) 74
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) 65
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 33
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia) 9
CIS Airplay (TopHit) 163
Czech Republic Airplay (ČNS IFPI) 7
France (SNEP) 161
Germany (GfK) 79
Iceland (RÚV) 2
Ireland (IRMA) 95
Israel (Media Forest TV Airplay) 1
Italy (FIMI) 32
Italy Airplay (EarOne) 4
Netherlands (Single Top 100) 65
Poland Airplay (ZPAV) 44
Portugal (AFP) 96
Slovenia (SloTop50) 27
South Korea International (Gaon) 42
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 32
UK Singles (Official Charts) 71
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard) 30
US Adult Alternative Airplay (Billboard) 8
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard) 22
US Rock & Alternative Airplay (Billboard) 20

Monthly charts

Monthly chart performance for "Up&Up"
Chart (2017) Peak
position
South Korea International (Gaon) 87

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Up&Up"
Chart (2016) Position
Argentina (Monitor Latino) 38
Iceland (Plötutíóindi) 19
Italy (FIMI) 70
Italy Airplay (EarOne) 9
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard) 75
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard) 25

08Certifications

Certifications for "Up&Up"
Region CertificationCertified 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

Release dates and formats for "Up&Up"
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
Watch videos about Up&UpExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

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:

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