Coldplay
Chris Martin wrote "A Sky Full of Stars" in approximately seven minutes, late at night at the piano. He sent the demo to Avicii. Four hours later, Avicii sent back what Martin described as "our biggest hit single." The chord structure was deliberately based on the same repeating sequence used by Nirvana and Katy Perry. Martin realized he needed to "find a sequence that I could just play for ages and ages." The album it closes, Ghost Stories, was made during Martin's separation from Gwyneth Paltrow, a period dark enough that his bandmates were checking his morning texts out of concern. He insisted the album wasn't sad.
In our deep dive into A Sky Full of Stars, we trace the song from seven minutes at the piano to Avicii's four-hour reply to the album that emerged from a very difficult year, and what it reveals about a songwriter who found a way to make something joyful out of something painful.
