Higher Power Turns Five (The Skip Button Is Still Working)

5 years ago today, Coldplay released “Higher Power.” The only higher power involved was the skip button.

It’s a song about reaching for god, or love, or the cosmos — pick one — but what it actually sounds like is a SoulCycle instructor’s Spotify playlist. Chris Martin squeezed into auto-tune like a man trying to prove he can still fit into his high school jeans. The lyrics are what you’d get if you asked a fortune cookie to write stadium rock and then dipped it in Bono.

Here’s what you should listen to instead — what 2021 actually sounded like:

1. Bicep – “Cazenove” — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY9QZFSLiOI
2. Overmono – “So U Kno” — RA’s Track of the Year, and it earned every vote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNG-Ic4LkXM
3. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises — More actual weight in the first four bars than anything Coldplay has put on wax in 25 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn8x0QbN4f8
4. TSHA – “Sister” — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaMIM1VrKMc
5. Peggy Gou – “Nabi” ft. OHHYUK — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvUdtczXHPY