When it comes to determining the most intriguing guest artist on Coldplay's recently-released album A Head Full Of Dreams, you can't beat the President himself. Barack Obama is featured on Coldplay's "Kaleidoscope" — and, no, he's not just talking. Blue Ivy Carter has a cameo as well, on a different song, so it was a tight race there for a second, but, ultimately, the fact that the President is actually singing gave him a slight edge over the daughter of Jay Z and Beyoncé. Anyway, as I said, the song in question is "Kaleidoscope", and it uses a snippet of Obama, not giving a speech, which would be powerful enough, but singing "Amazing Grace" at the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine victims of the June 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
In lead singer Chris Martin's own words, speaking to The Sun, "We have a tiny clip of the President singing 'Amazing Grace' at that church. Because of the historical significance of what he did and also that that song being about, 'I’m lost but now I’m found.'" It's an inspirational message on its own, but is made even more so in connection with the other words that Obama shared during the eulogy for Pinckney, in which he touched on gun violence, racial tension, and the meaning of faith in today's terrifying world. Here's the video of Obama briefly breaking into song at the state senator's funeral on Jun. 26.
In the Coldplay song, layered over the clip of Obama singing, are spoken lyrics from a poem by the Persian poet Rumi that serve to underscore the message of grace and love even further:
This being human is a guest houseEvery morning a new arrivalA joy, a depression, a meannessSome momentary awareness comesAs an unexpected visitorWelcome and entertain them all!Be grateful for whoever comesBecause each has been sent as a guide
While "Kaleidoscope" may not be the most danceable track on A Head Full Of Dreams, available now on Tidal and Apple Music — definitely not, in fact — its message is an important one, and I'm glad it made it on the album.
