Coldplay have today premiered the music video for The Karate Kid, a new song taken from the expanded Full Moon Edition of the band’s No. 1 album Moon Music.
The video stars legendary actor Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai) as a down-on-his-luck busker who gets his shot at a Coldplay stadium show. Directed by Chris Candy, the video was filmed in Melbourne during the band’s record-breaking Australia / New Zealand tour leg which wrapped in Auckland on Saturday.
The band got in touch with Ralph after he called The Karate Kid “a beautiful track” on social media after its October release.
Said Ralph Macchio: “When Chris Martin pops up on your FaceTime asking you to help create a video to accompany what I found to be a beautifully emotional and poignant song – one inspired by a film I made over 40 years ago – there was only one answer. Having the opportunity to join Coldplay in Australia at one of their legendary live shows to collaborate on this music video was nothing short of a career highlight. The synergy with Chris, the band and our director Chris Candy was as pure as any I’ve experienced. I’m excited to share this with the world.”
A limited edition red 7-inch featuring The Karate Kid alongside Coldplay’s current single, All My Love, is available to order here on recycled vinyl.
Last month, Moon Music topped album charts around the world, including the US, where it became Coldplay’s fifth US No. 1 album (more than any other UK solo act or group this century) and in the UK, where it outsold the rest of the Top 40 combined.
Moon Music is the world’s first album released as a 140g EcoRecord rPET LP, with each copy made from 9 recycled PET-plastic bottles recovered from post-consumer waste. Additionally, the band collaborated with The Ocean Cleanup to create the Notebook Edition LP, for which the rPET comprises 70% river plastic, intercepted by The Ocean Cleanup from the Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala. The standard CD editions of Moon Music were also the world’s first to be released on EcoCD, created from 90% recycled polycarbonate, sourced from post-consumer waste streams.
Since kicking off in March 2022, the band’s Music Of The Spheres World Tour has sold over 12 million tickets across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, making it the all-time highest attended tour by a group.
The band recently issued an update on the tour’s sustainability initiatives, revealing that, on a show-by-show comparison, the current tour has so far produced 59% less CO2e emissions than their previous stadium tour in 2016/17, exceeding their original target of a 50% reduction. More than 9 million trees have already been planted around the world (with a further million to be planted before the end of the year). Full info can be found at sustainability.coldplay.com.
