IAN SWEET – “Yellow” (Coldplay Cover)IAN SWEET – “Yellow” (Coldplay Cover)

More than two decades ago, Coldplay were one more group of mellow, falsetto-happy British wimp-rockers attempting to move into the territory that Radiohead had vacated. But Coldplay had something that the Travises and Starsailors of the world lacked. Coldplay had “Yellow,” the incandescent little lullaby that introduced them to the world. Years upon years of pop stardom followed, and now Coldplay are out here recording 10-minute songs with Max Martin and using emojis as song titles and shit. Today, courtesy of Jilian Medford’s IAN SWEET project, we get to hear “Yellow” with fresh ears again.

IAN SWEET returned with the album Show Me How You Disappear earlier this year. Today, Medford has followed up that LP with her own version of “Yellow.” Medford has said that Coldplay are one of her favorite bands, and working with producer Daniel Fox, she’s recorded a soft, twinkly, internal take on Coldplay’s original. She’s also made an homage to the Coldplay video. In the new clip, director Will Duncan shoots Medford walking along a beach at sunrise, just as Chris Martin did 21 years ago. Watch IAN SWEET’s video and the Coldplay original below.

In a press release, Medford says:

I’ve seen Coldplay live 6 times. Parachutes was the first CD I ever rented from the library, and it changed my life. I owe a lot of who I am and the way I write and perform music to Coldplay. I wanted to cover “Yellow” because it is my go-to karaoke song, love song, breakup song, feel good song… It’s everything.

Show Me How You Disappear is out now on Polyvinyl.