Coldplay Just Released a Groundbreaking Interactive Video

Culture

Coldplay's latest single, "Ink," a sweet and mellow song about lost love, is easily the strongest track off their latest, Ghost Stories. However, the band saved the best thing about it for months later: This week, they released a groundbreaking interactive video to accompany it.

The most remarkable aspect of the choose-your-own adventure video: It's actually 300 videos. Directed by design studio Blind, the video allows users to shape up to 300 possible outcomes, while following the story of a man in pursuit of his lost love. The experiment couldn't be a more perfect fit for the song, because as Coldplay well knows, love can be lost in so many ways.

With this video, Coldplay joins the ranks of the cutting-edge artists working to push the boundaries of what a music video can be. Last year, Arcade Fire brought users directly into their video for "Reflektor," utilizing viewers' laptop and smartphone cameras. And two years before that, Danger Mouse and Danielle Lupi worked with pioneering interactive video artist Chris Milk to create a Minecraft-esque adventure for their song with Norah Jones, "3 Dreams of Black." Milk also recently created an interactive performance video for Beck's "Hello Again," featuring 360-degree cameras, binaural audio and facial tracking navigation. 

All these creations have helped to turn music videos into exciting new artistic platforms. And if "Ink" is any sign, they'll only get more immersive and awesome from here.

h/t Pitchfork