Coldplay's 'A Head Full Of Dreams' Has Arrived

I know everyone is probably still reeling from the revelation that Coldplay will be headlining the 2016 Super Bowl, but that's not the only big news in the lives of the band this week. Remember when Coldplay implied their next album would be their last? And everyone was like, "What? No way!" Well, Coldplay has released A Head Full Of Dreams, and it's not hard to figure out why Chris Martin put that declaration out in the world. The album does sound like the wind-down at the end of the movie, when the wars have been fought, the battles have been won or lost, and you're reflecting back on where you are versus where you've been. The album came out only a day after the Super Bowl news, which is overshadowing it a bit, but the real question on everyone's minds now should be is A Head Full Of Dreams Coldplay's last album?

First, we should take a step back and remember why that's even an idea. During an interview with Ryan Seacrest in early November, Chris Martin dropped a bombshell on the Coldplay fandom when he said, "We’re making an album that we’re really excited about. It feels like the finale of a certain story, the closing chapter of a story, the party scene, or the end of a movie. We feel like we’ve been trying to get to this for ages. That’s how I always wanted us to sound." People immediately began to panic that this was just his fancy way of saying that Coldplay is about to bow out of the musical scene — or, worse, take a hiatus. (See the One Direction fandom for how well people take the word "hiatus" these days.)

However, Martin said in the same interview, as if anticipating this panic, "That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the band. We’re going to stay in this world for awhile. Who knows? But right now I’m so grateful to be right here with these songs, with this particular band at this time." So that's... hopeful? Right? Either way, December 4 marked the day that A Head Full Of Dreams finally made itself available for purchase on iTunes, which means that, when Coldplay takes over the Super Bowl, it's likely that these will be most of the songs that they'll be entertaining us with.

And why not? A Head Full Of Dreams features a wealth of musical cameos, from Beyoncé in the already-released "A Hymn For The Weekend" and Tove Lo on the track "Fun." Gwyneth Paltrow herself even contributes vocals to the fourth track on the album, "Everglow." Basically, the guessing game of which celebrity guests could appear on stage with Coldplay when the 2016 Super Bowl rolls around is unreal. A Head Full Of Dreams isn't current available on Spotify, but, though it may not be the band's final album as we've all been fearing for months, it's still definitely worth checking out. If only for that Beyoncé song alone.

Image: Atlantic