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McCants
Jennifer McCants

Professor Morean

ENG 1201

September 29, 2021

Paradise

“And so lying underneath those stormy skies, she’d say, “oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I know

the sun must set to rise. This could be para-para-paradise.” Which I why I wondered why the

two artists didn’t use a female lead for their videos. Could it be the artists didn’t want us to get

caught up on the literal translation as much as they wanted us to get caught up in our own

paradise? Coldplay and ThePianoGuys gives us an amazing story along with paradise like visuals.

Both videos were shot outside in desert like plains. Coldplay takes us to Cape Town in

London to the Klein Karoo in the Western Cape. While ThePianoGuys takes us to Southern Utah

to the top of a red rock mountain. The visuals of paradise seem to be far from the hustle and

bustle of fast-paced environments. However, Coldplay gives us a different storyline than

ThePianoGuys. You see, Coldplay wanted us to see the story of a dreamer achieving one’s

dream. Where ThePianoGuys invited us into African culture and euphoric visuals to bring the

instruments and language to life. Very stimulating. While I did favor ThePianoGuys visual and

rendition of Paradise, Coldplay tells a story that demands our attention.

For example, there is a transition in the video where the elephant (played by lead singer

Chris Martin) is trying to hitchhike a ride and has no luck. As the music transitions, so does the

scenes. We see that the day is starting to come to an end, and the sun is about to set. What

seems to be a new morning, the elephant sees in the heat of the sunrise—off in a distance—
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those who the elephant has been so eagerly to get to. This scene went hand and hand with the

hope that comes with being surround by—and possibly buried by—storms of life. While also

reminding oneself of this truth, “I know the sun must set to rise.” This was proven when the

elephant arrives to other elephants (the other band members of Coldplay) and doing what it

loves: playing music. Even so, that they go from being in the Klein Karoo to a stage in

Johannesburg performing in front of thousands (maybe millions) of people. This is a great visual

of storms being temporary and the hope of one’s dreams becoming a reality.

On the other side, we have ThePianoGuys telling a different story through their visuals.

But still accentuating the lyrics that “this could be paradise” with this amazing scene of them on

top of a mountain. What a great way to show this truth that the sun sets to rise. In their

rendition of the song, they display paradise through culture, music, and language. The artist

featured on ThePianoGuys’s rendition, Alex Boye, speaks four different languages: Swahili,

English, Yoruba, and African “scat.” ThePianoGuys takes the viewer to paradise with a grand

piano, a beautiful black violin, African garments and jewelry, African instruments, all the while

giving the viewer split screen angles of the sky and base of the mountain.

Both artists give us sky! Again, even though they told the story different and through

different geographical location, life experience and culture, they still told us the same story.

Whether you like vocals laid on top of musical magic or you like instrumentals with vocals

emphasizing the message, both artists offer the view paradise. Moments of overcoming and

standing in the place of purpose [or destiny if you will] is truly paradise. Dreams do come true

this could be paradise.

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Work Cited

“Paradise (Coldplay Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Sept. 2021,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_(Coldplay_song).

Passey, Brian. “The Piano GUYS Return to Their Southern Utah Roots.” The Spectrum, The

Spectrum, 14 Oct. 2015,

https://www.thespectrum.com/story/entertainment/2015/10/13/piano-guys-return-their-

southern-utah-roots/73897494/.

“Paradise.” Coldplay, Coldplay, https://www.coldplay.com/song/paradise/.