INTERVIEWSHear Chris Martin Dump Rihanna in Coldplay's 'Princess of China'

This is the sound of Coldplay collaborating with Billboard Hot 100 champion Rihanna. Perhaps more significantly, it's the sound of Chris Martin singing about ending a relationship with Rihanna.

"You really hurt me," Martin and RiRi repeat in harmony at the swelling apex of the track. With brash synth squiggles and a lofty, wordless hook, it's catchy and represents another appealing shift in direction for a group that already refuses to keep repeating the same musical formula — though it's still more inoffensive than inspiring. Ask us again after a few months of constant Top 40 radio exposure, though, once pop-rock Stockholm syndrome sets in. Maybe then we'll understand what Martin's "favorite bit" from the next week's Mylo Xyloto — the bit that reduced Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow to a "Hugh Grant-like" stammer — has to do with China. The better to market to our future economic overlords, perhaps?. Mylo Xyloto is due October 25.