Coldplay and BTS sound like a natural pairing on their collaboration “My Universe,” but it didn’t always feel that way to Chris Martin.
Martin guested on Ellen yesterday and during his conversation with the host, he explained he didn’t initially think a BTS joint effort would be a good idea, but eventually, the “weirdness” of it made the prospect more appealing to him:
“Someone said to me, ‘Oh, BTS asked you to do a song for them.’ That’s what I got told. At the time, I was like, ‘That’s never going to work ever. How are we going to fit these two things together?’ Then the idea started to seem really attractive in its weirdness. And then one day, the right song just kind of arrived and I just knew at the time, ‘OK, this is the song we’re supposed to do with BTS and it’s supposed to be about people who can’t be together or told they shouldn’t be together or forced to live in separate places.’ So then it felt really natural, and it’s still quite a bizarre… we look like their gym teachers, but we love them. For something that could have seemed so artificial, it turned out being one of the most real feelings and I genuinely love those people.”
Elsewhere on the show, Coldplay performed a stripped-down rendition of the song, with Martin on piano and the rest of the band on guitars and bass, so check that out below and find Martin’s interview above.
Coldplay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.