It was 2011. Coldplay was essentially the biggest band on the planet, but they were bored. Or maybe just restless. Chris Martin had this idea for a "schizophrenic" concept album called Mylo Xyloto, a neon-drenched rock opera about graffiti and love in a dystopian city. But there was a gap. He’d written a track that didn't sound like a rock song. It sounded like a massive, synth-heavy R&B anthem.
He had one person in mind. Rihanna.
Honestly, it felt like a weird fever dream at the time. You have the kings of earnest British "piano rock" teaming up with the Barbadian queen of the charts. Some fans hated it. They called it "selling out." Others saw it as a stroke of genius. But more than a decade later, Princess of China remains one of the most polarizing and fascinating moments in modern pop history.
Why Princess of China Still Matters
When you listen to the track today, it doesn’t sound like 2011. It sounds like a collision. The song opens with a jagged, distorted synth riff that was actually sampled from Sigur Rós. Specifically, the track "Takk..." That’s the first clue that this wasn't just a generic radio grab. Brian Eno, the legendary producer, was in the room for these sessions. His job? Basically to veto anything that sounded too much like "standard Coldplay."
Chris Martin has admitted he was terrified to ask Rihanna. He’s described himself approaching her in a "Hugh Grant-ish" way—nervous, bumbling, and deeply British. He told MTV that the song was "secretly written" for her. He didn't want a duet for the sake of a duet; he wanted her specific grit.
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The result? A song about two people who were meant to be royalty but ended up "holding on to a dream."
The Cultural Controversy No One Saw Coming
We have to talk about the music video. It’s... a lot. Directed by Adria Petty and Alan Bibby, it was envisioned as a tribute to old-school Kung Fu cinema. Think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets a 1970s Shaw Brothers trailer.
Rihanna looks incredible, obviously. She’s rocking "gangsta goth geisha" vibes (her words, not mine). But that's exactly where the trouble started. The video is a massive melting pot of Asian cultures. You have Rihanna imitating a Hindu goddess (the "Thousand-Hand Guanyin"), wearing Japanese-inspired hairpieces, and playing a "Princess of China."
Critics back then—and certainly now—pointed out that it was a bit of a "cultural salad." It didn't differentiate between Chinese, Japanese, or Indian influences. It was just "East Asian Aesthetics" used as a backdrop for a pop video. Was it malicious? Probably not. Was it messy? Absolutely.
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The Sound of a Genre Dying (and Being Reborn)
Musically, the song is a weird beast. It’s in A minor, but it doesn't stay in one lane.
- The Sigur Rós Sample: That's the heartbeat of the song. It gives it that soaring, Icelandic atmospheric vibe.
- The Vocal Dynamics: Chris and Rihanna’s voices shouldn't work together. He’s all breathy and falsetto; she’s all power and rasp. But when they hit that middle section together? It’s massive.
- The Structure: Mike Senior from Sound on Sound pointed out that the song has a really enigmatic structure. It doesn't follow the "Verse-Chorus-Verse" rulebook. It builds to a climax that feels like a cliffhanger.
Many hardcore Coldplay fans who grew up on Parachutes or A Rush of Blood to the Head felt betrayed. They saw the "Woah-oh-oh" choruses as a move toward the lowest common denominator. But look at where music went after this. The "genre-less" pop we have now, where rappers collab with country stars and rock bands use trap beats, owes a small debt to the bridge Coldplay and Rihanna built here.
What Most People Get Wrong
People think this was a label-mandated collaboration. You know, the kind where two famous people are shoved in a room to sell records. It wasn't.
Chris Martin has gone on record calling Rihanna "the best singer of all time." He’s a genuine fanboy. He’s also admitted that the band needed her to pull them out of their comfort zone. Without "Princess of China," we probably don't get the Beyonce collaboration on "Hymn for the Weekend" or the BTS collab "My Universe."
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This was the moment Coldplay decided they weren't just a rock band—they were a pop entity.
The Live Technical Disaster
If you want a laugh, look up their performance at the Stade de France in 2012. They actually had to play the song twice because of technical glitches. Rihanna was there, the crowd was losing it, and then... nothing. Silence. They handled it like pros, though. They just restarted the whole thing. It’s one of the few times you see the "machine" of a massive stadium tour actually break down.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Critics
If you haven't revisited the track lately, do yourself a favor and listen to the Acoustic Version found on the Princess of China EP. It strips away the "geisha goth" synths and the Sigur Rós wall of sound.
- Listen for the Piano: Without the production, you realize it’s actually a very sad, traditional Coldplay ballad.
- Compare the Vocals: Rihanna’s voice is remarkably vulnerable when it’s not competing with a stadium-sized beat.
- Watch the "Live 2012" Film: The way they integrated Rihanna via holograms (when she wasn't physically there) was groundbreaking for the time.
The song isn't perfect. The cultural "borrowing" in the video is definitely a product of a less-aware era. But as a piece of pop-rock history, it’s a fascinating look at what happens when the world's biggest band decides to stop playing it safe and invites a pop icon to their party.
Whether you love it or think it's the moment the band "jumped the shark," you can't deny that riff. It’s still stuck in your head, isn’t it?