“Yellow”
Writers: Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, Will Champion
Original Release Date: June 26, 2000
Color me excited to present you with not one, but two excellent covers of Coldplay’s classic anthem.
Though Coldplay have been a band since 1996, it wasn’t until “Yellow” was released in 2000 that they started on their road to being the huge band they are now. While the track starts off slow, it’s soon taken over by a heavier guitar part. According to band legend, “Yellow” came about when Chris Martin was impersonating Neil Young (see: the “look at the stars” line) and it snowballed from there. While lyrics like “for you I’d bleed myself dry” have a melancholy tinge, people often choose to interpret the song as upbeat, and even romantic, as Martin sings about his unending devotion for someone (or something).
If you haven’t been paying attention to Cambridge-based Mallory Knox yet, maybe this rendition will convince you that they’re worthy of your time. In May, they released the cover in collaboration with the mental health charity CALM, choosing the song because of the “melancholic vibe”. They don’t veer away from the original very much, producing a take that manages to stay true to both Coldplay and Mallory Knox’s sound. Personally, I love singer Mikey Chapman’s vocals, and you can really hear the emotions behind the words, especially when he belts out the chorus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-796usPNwMQ
Speaking of bands you should pay attention to: A Will Away has been slowly infecting the scene with their bright emo-pop—in fact, they recently stopped by the idobi studio and wowed us with a couple of acoustic tracks —and no one is complaining. Like Mallory Knox, they didn’t change a lot when they decided to tackle a Coldplay song, and the result is truly impressive, especially for such a young band. The guitars are a little more emo than pop, but the cover is still so smooth that it makes you want to spend a whole day listening to the rest of A Will Away’s discography (speaking from personal experience).
At the end of the day, Coldplay wouldn’t be Coldplay without “Yellow”, so we have to give them props for producing such a catchy song that I’ve had stuck in my head for sixteen years.
