Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, often referred to as simply Viva la Vida, is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Coldplay, released on 12 June 2008 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom. "Viva la vida" is a Spanish phrase, translated to English as "long live life" or simply "live life". Lyrically, the album contains references to love, life, death and war.
Recording sessions for the album took place from November 2006 to April 2008 and featured production by Jon Hopkins, Rik Simpson, Markus Dravs, and Brian Eno. The album was Coldplay's first not to feature any production input from Ken Nelson, who produced their first two albums and co-produced some tracks on their third. The band forced themselves to explore new styles, as Eno required every song on the album to sound different. Development of the album delayed the release date several times. The album cover of Viva la Vida is the 1830 painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix with the album title over it.
Viva la Vida was both a critical and commercial success. Five songs were released to promote the album: "Violet Hill" and "Viva la Vida" in May 2008, "Lovers in Japan" and "Lost!" in November 2008, and "Strawberry Swing" in September 2009. "Viva la Vida" became the band's first song to reach number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It won Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards and was also nominated for Album of the Year. Viva la Vida also reached number one in 36 countries upon release, with EMI shipping over 3 million copies in its first week worldwide. It was the best-selling album of 2008. By 2011, the album had sold 13 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling releases of the 21st century. Viva la Vida was re-released on 25 November 2008 in a deluxe edition containing the original album and the Prospekt's March EP, which contained "Life in Technicolor II".
Background In October 2006, two weeks after bassist Guy Berryman had a child, reports circulated that the band were taking a five-year hiatus. The new baby, and the fact that Coldplay had no touring or recording schedule at the time, had fans wondering if the band's new album would not be released until 2010. Dispelling such reports, Ambrosia Healy, spokesperson to Capitol, sent an e-mail message to MTV saying that there was no self-imposed hiatus. However, Healy clarified that Coldplay was indeed "enjoying a much-deserved break", and that there was no timetable for their fourth album. Work on Viva la Vida began in November 2006, only interrupted by the final leg of the Twisted Logic Tour in early 2007.
Recording
Ambient musician and English record producer Brian Eno produced the album. Coldplay moved to the Bakery, after finishing up their Twisted Logic Tour, building a recording studio there. The songs written during their time at the studio are lyrically "much more abstract, much more visual than before", and musically "less straight-forward, more oblique". Additionally, lead singer Chris Martin wanted to make a vocal transition from his trademark falsetto to a lower register. This is explored in "Yes", where the main characteristic of the Velvet Underground–inspired song is the lowest vocals Chris Martin ever recorded; this was suggested by the producer Eno, to make every single song sound different. The band's drummer Will Champion said in an interview for MTV: "One of the main things we tried to focus on with this record is changing vocal identities, because Chris has a very recognizable voice." Coldplay sparked an interest with Hispanic influences after having recorded in churches and in Spanish-speaking countries such as in Mexico in North America and Spain in Europe, specifically Barcelona. However, it was stressed that the influence was not in any specific sound but a general feel to the songs taken as a whole. On their website, the band also described taking acoustic guitars and basic recording equipment to churches and experimenting with particular sounds.
Throughout the recording of the album, Coldplay communicated to fans through their website. "Famous Old Painters" and "Glass of Water" were written in late 2007, and they were considering both tracks for the album; however, they were not well received by the producers, though the latter was added to the finalised Prospekt's March extended play track listing instead. The album was delayed further, but a December 2007 post gave hints that the recording stage was nearly finished. The article was signed "Prospekt", strengthening rumours that this would be the album's title. While the band completed two more songs ("Lovers in Japan" and "Strawberry Swing"), they denied that the album was called "Prospekt". Martin revealed he had been reading many Charles Dickens novels during the recording process which may have contributed to the strong visual imagery on such tracks as "Violet Hill" and "Cemeteries of London".
When asked about why "Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love" had an additional song, bassist Guy Berryman explained that the band had wanted to keep the album concise with a total of ten tracks. Champion followed with, "We just preferred to have less titles and more stuff. The album as a whole has got the most on it, but it's the shortest. We wanted to make it almost impossible for you to not listen to it all in one go."
The Italian violinist and composer Davide Rossi collaborated with Coldplay to record strings on his acoustic and electric violin (the latter being capable of reaching notes as low as the upright bass, thus recreating a full orchestra) throughout the album. His strings are featured in six songs: "Viva la Vida" (the song in which his strings are the most used), "Violet Hill", "Life in Technicolor", "42", "Yes" and "Strawberry Swing". Some of the songs recorded with Rossi did not make the cut for the album but were released on Prospekt's March (2009).
On 17 July 2009, two early demos from the Viva la Vida recording sessions leaked on the internet: "Bloodless Revolution" and a very early version of "Lovers in Japan". Two days later, a demo, called "St. Stephen", appeared online. On 20 July 2009, six more demos were leaked: "The Fall of Man", "The Man Who Swears", "First Steps", "Loveless" and "Goodbye and Goodnight". Three other left-off tracks were leaked later into the internet: an instrumental of "Lukas", an unreleased song given to Natalie Imbruglia; "Until the Water Flows Over", a song written and performed live in 2003; and an instrumental of "Famous Old Painters".
Composition and themes Viva la Vida is generally categorised as a rock album, which has been more specifically described as alternative rock, art rock,
pop rock, indie pop and art pop, with dream pop influences. Musically, it contrasts with their previous records. The title track uses an orchestra, while "Lovers in Japan" features a tack piano. "Lost!" is influenced by tribal music, whereas "Strawberry Swing" incorporates Afropop music. Martin described Viva la Vida as a new direction for Coldplay: a change from their past three albums, which they have referred to as a "trilogy". He said the album featured less falsetto, as he allowed his voice's lower register to take precedence, which is particularly evident on such tracks as "Yes" and "Death and All His Friends".
The album contains an array of different themes such as love, war, and revolution. Unlike their previous releases, the album has a more universal approach, dealing less with personal problems and more with issues of humanity. Songs like "Life in Technicolor II" (which didn't make it to the final track list but instead was released on Prospekt's March) and "Death and All His Friends" talk about war and politics, while "Violet Hill" has been described as the first anti-war protest song from the band. Martin stated the lyrics of "Violet Hill" were a commentary on Fox News. Other songs, such as the double track "Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love" and "Yes", are about love and desire.
Revolutionary themes are also prominent throughout the album and its promotion. Coldplay used customised French revolutionary costumes throughout the Viva la Vida Tour and in the videos produced for the album's singles. In an interview for the Latin American TV channel Boomerang in 2010, Martin said that a big inspiration for the record was Victor Hugo's book Les Misérables—which can be noted by the French revolution themes on "Viva la Vida", for example.
The work of the Beatles is apparently an inspiration throughout the album, starting with orchestration on the title track. The song "Violet Hill", with its distorted guitar riffs and bluesy undertones, references Abbey Road (1969), being named after a street near Abbey Road and borrowing its rhythm from the Beatles. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, during their acceptance speech for Song of the Year, Will Champion joked: "I'd like to say, first of all, thank you and sorry to Sir Paul McCartney for blatantly recycling the Sgt. Pepper outfits".
Artwork
The artwork for Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends was designed by Coldplay and Tappin Gofton; the latter designed the X&Y cover three years earlier. The design style for the album took months to be completed; it was initially developed from a set of large-scale sketches and paintings of expressive typography. Lyrics and song titles were boldly painted across old maps, books, copies of old paintings, newspapers and various sorts of second-hand things. The final work was photographed and some additional typography was later added by computer.
Almost all tracks from the album and the Prospekt's March EP have one or more graphic images. On the album's booklet there are nine paintings made by the band. The first is a blue map of Brazil that includes part of the lyrics from "Glass of Water" painted in white. However, the image was later reworked and used as the artwork for the "Lost!" single cover. The second painting on the booklet illustrates the song "42". The image consists of part of the song's composition written in a red background, with a black stripe covering the centre. The design for "Cemeteries of London" contains an illustration of London, the song's title and a messy violet background. A portion of the lyrics is used on the top of it. The visual design for "Reign of Love" has its lyrics drawn on a green background. In the middle of the booklet, most of the lyrics of the album are shown amidst an unrecognisable object. The artwork for "Yes" consists of a ripped heart, and a line from the song, "Lord lead me not into temptation". The painting next to the song's artwork contains lyrics from "Viva la Vida" painted in black on a blue background. The artwork for "Death and All His Friends" was made with scissors and paper. Lyrics for the song appear in the design. The last page in the booklet is simple: a Roman numeral of the number 7 painted in red and green on a yellow background.(2008) Artwork for Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay. Capitol (50999 2 16886 0 7). Some of the paintings were shown on a screen during the Viva la Vida Tour, or used on big balloons inside of the venues.