Beyoncé Coldplay Collaboration: Listen To ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ Here
On first appearances, Beyoncé and Coldplay might be on opposite sides of the pop spectrum, but both are the kind of mainstays who have crossed genres and fan bases over decade-spanning careers to become two of the biggest acts in mainstream music. Throwing their disparate followings together screams “hit,” and they might just have one on their hands.
Mutual fans of both performers will be ecstatic to hear that Beyoncé lent her vocals to a track on Coldplay’s upcoming album A Head Full of Dreams, set for release this Friday. The new song, called “Hymn for the Weekend” is stylistically somewhere between the most recent work from both Coldplay and Beyoncé. There’s a club sensibility to it that still maintains the slow burn feeling that unites the record-breaking ballads both artists have offered.
Like most people coming across the star-power packed track for the first time, Mac couldn’t help but wonder how Coldplay had managed to score a vocal from perhaps the biggest name in modern pop music. After all, it’s not like Beyoncé is an easy guest artist to snag. Getting right to the point, she asked Guy Berryman how the pairing had come to be.
“Well, we had a song idea, and it actually started off being quite a different kind of vibe this song. Chris was wanting to write a sort of party song. The words were, ‘Drinks on me, drinks on me.’ And we said to him, ‘You can’t say that, you can’t get away with that.’ And then, so, the whole sort of story of the song changed. He asked Beyoncé to sing with it, and she very kindly said she would, and it was amazing. She came in, she did her thing, she’s unbelievably professional. I think she was in and out in five minutes. We’re just sort of blessed to have her sing on one of our songs.”
Guy noted that Beyoncé’s contribution to the track really built on what the band had already laid down. While Berryman wasn’t in the studio when she came in to record the vocal, the final product certainly makes it stand out among Coldplay’s discography — it’s hard to imagine the song without Beyoncé singing in it.
“She really transformed it and made it into something we’re all incredibly proud of.”
The Coldplay member also noted that the track wasn’t necessarily what he’d consider a duet. Beyoncé’s vocal is “quite understated,” he said, functioning more as part of the music than a voice leading the track.
You can purchase Coldplay and Beyoncé’s collaboration, “Hymn For the Weekend,” when the new album Head Full of Dreams drops Friday, Dec. 6.
[Photos by Larry Busacca/Getty Images; Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
