Coldplay & Rihanna Debut "Princess of China"

British alternative rock band Coldplay has finally released the music video for their new single with Rihanna, "Princess of China," and it does not disappoint. The track is the fourth single off Coldplay's fifth studio album, "Mylo Xyloto," which debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200. We expect rock bands to work with rappers, but cross-pollination between rockers and R&B. Singers is a little less common. The song is a hard-to-categorize pop confection that has left listeners wondering what the video would look like. Wonder no longer.
"Princess Of China" features a moody and heavy synth throughout the duration of the song with a string loop and an epic, Asia-influenced. It exemplifies the adventurous vibe that comes from an alternative-hip-hop combination that making it one of the band's less Coldplayesque tunes. Lyrically this song finds frontman Chris Martin writing from a female point of view. He told NME: "I found that with 'Viva La Vida,' I enjoyed writing from someone else's perspective to actually get out what I was feeling. That song is from a girl's perspective. I wonder what that says about me?"
The song features Rihanna duetting with Martin. The Coldplay frontman admitted to The Sun that it took him a while to finally muster up the nerve to ask the Bajan superstar to contribute some vocals on "Mylo Xyloto," and Rihanna's vocals surprised Martin. "When the song came out, it sort of asked for her to be on it. And I think at this point, we have nothing to lose, and so we've been trying some new things and trying to break down the perceived boundaries between different types of music." Much like the characters in the song, the onscreen characters are torn up about their dying love.
Filmed at the Taiko Center in Los Angeles, the trippy clip was directed by Adria Petty & Alan Bibby, which is full of eye-burning surreal images that play on the song's references to Asia, with Martin and Rihanna donning all sorts of ninja and ninja-goddess couture. A desert, the sky and some ancient-looking Chinese palaces all serve as backgrounds. Martin dressed as a stealthy ninja, goes head to head against Rihanna's own "gangsta goth geisha." as she appears a fierce warrior princess. But then things get serious as the two star-crossed lovers kneel in the desert, forehead to forehead, and mourn the loss of their love.