"Everglow" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

. It is the fourth track from their seventh studio album, ''

A Head Full of Dreams ''A Head Full of Dreams'' is the seventh studio album by British rock band Coldplay, released on 4 December 2015, by Parlophone in the United Kingdom, and by Atlantic Records in the United States. Coldplay recorded the album from early to mid 20 ...

''. It features uncredited guest vocals by

Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...

, who at the time was married to

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Univ ...

despite their separation being announced in 2014. The track premiered during

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

's Beats 1 radio show on 26 November 2015 and was originally released as a promotional single for the album on 27 November 2015. On 11 November 2016, however, the song was released as the fifth single from the album through a newly recorded stripped-down version, which was inspired by Martin's unrehearsed solo performance of the song at the recent

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

. This recording ends with a sample of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

's 1977 speech in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Composition

The track revolves around a heartfelt piano riff and was written in the key of C# Minor at 73 BPM and a chord progression that alternates between C#m-A-E-G#m7 and C#m-A-E-B.

Background

Martin came up with the idea for the title of the song from a

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

word he heard from a surfer. In an interview with

, he explained the origin of the phrase: "I was in the ocean one day with this surfer guy, who spoke just like you'd imagine a surfer guy to speak … This guy spoke like

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

's character from ''

Fast Times at Ridgemont High ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' is a 1982 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling (in her feature directorial debut), from a screenplay by Cameron Crowe, based on his 1981 book ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story' ...

''. He was like, 'Yo dude, I was doing this thing the other day man, it gave me this total everglow!'"

Live performance

The song was debuted during the

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

album release party of ''A Head Full of Dreams'', on 19 November 2015. On June 26, 2016, Coldplay performed at Glastonbury Festival and after introducing the band, Chris Martin announced they were going to play Everglow. Chris' piano was out of tune causing Martin to stop and do the song in a key down, so he played the song with the piano, without the other members of the band. Days later, on July 3, 2016, the band started to play that stripped back version of Everglow, and on November 11, 2016 it was released as the final single of the album because of how much they liked the live performance.

Music video

An initial video directed by Joe Connor was filmed at the

Eisstadion am Pferdeturm The Eisstadion am Pferdeturm is an ice arena in Hannover, Germany. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home of the Hannover Indians The Hannover Indians are a professional German ice hockey team and public limited company from Hanover ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

on 30 June 2016, but was unreleased. This video was leaked online in 2017. Another video filmed by Ben Mor, featuring

performing the song on a grand piano, was released on 9 December 2016.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from ''A Head Full of Dreams'' liner notes. ;Coldplay *

Guy Berryman Guy Rupert Berryman (born 12 April 1978) is a Scottish musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Coldplay and electronic supergroup Apparatjik. Raised in Kirkcaldy, he began to play bass from an early age, ...

– bass guitar *

Jonny Buckland Jonathan Mark Buckland (born 11 September 1977) is an English-born Welsh musician and songwriter best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Raised in Pantymwyn, he began to play guitar from an early age, being in ...

– guitar *

Will Champion William Champion (born 31 July 1978) is an English musician and songwriter best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the rock band Coldplay. Raised in Southampton, he learned various instruments during his childhood, being influenced by ...

– drums, drum pad, percussion, backing vocals *

– lead vocals, piano ;Additional musicians * Mikkel S Eriksen – additional instruments, production, mixing *

Tor Erik Hermansen Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

– additional instruments, production, mixing *

– backing vocals *

Davide Rossi Davide Rossi (born 7 August 1970) is an Italian violinist, string arranger, composer, conductor and a record producer, perhaps best known for having been the violinist, guitar and keytar-player for the British electronic music duo Goldfrapp f ...

– strings *

Rik Simpson Rik Simpson (a.k.a. Rikademus) is a multi Grammy Award-winning British record producer, sound engineer, musician, and songwriter. He is most recently recognised for his production work with Coldplay on ''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Frien ...

– additional instruments, backing vocals, mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control 2010s ballads 2015 songs Coldplay songs Parlophone singles Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Rik Simpson Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers) Songs written by Chris Martin Songs written by Jonny Buckland Songs written by Guy Berryman Songs written by Will Champion British soft rock songs Songs about Muhammad Ali