On 21 November 2016, Chris Martin announced the EP title on the band's official Twitter account, it is the same as an interlude track from A Head Full of Dreams (2015).[6] The release was originally due to 2 June, but it was delayed to 30 June and then 14 July without any previous announcement from the band.
Singles
Commercial singles
The Chainsmokers and Coldplay collaborated on the lead single "Something Just Like This", which was made available on 22 February 2017. For the extended play, a new version titled "Tokyo Remix" was recorded live in Tokyo, Japan in April and released on 23 June.
Promotional singles
The band revealed "Hypnotised" and the track listing of the EP on 2 March 2017.[7] "All I Can Think About Is You" came out on 15 June as the second offering, with an accompanying lyric video directed by I Saw John First.[4] On 7 July, following Coldplay's performance at Global Citizen Festival Germany, they launched "Aliens" as a charity single. All profits were donated to Migrant Offshore Aid Station, an international non-governmental organisation which rescues refugees.[8] The animated lyric video was directed by Diane Martel and Ben Jones. On 14 July, "Miracles (Someone Special)", featuring Big Sean, was sent to Italian radio stations as a promotional single.[9] A visualiser debuted in the following day.[10]
Upon release, Kaleidoscope received positive reaction from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[18] Reviewing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine comments "Coldplay haven’t entirely been sucked into the machinery while trying to subvert pop music from within", giving the EP three and a half stars.[19]
Harriet Gibson of The Guardian gave the EP three stars, writing "This EP is nothing but on-brand, however; euphoric emotion, an earnest, universal message and a coating of tacky charm".[20]Mark Beaumont of the NME wrote "Coldplay don’t just churn out anthems. On their surprise-filled new EP, they test the waters and see what floats", and gave the EP four stars.[21]Pitchfork's Jamieson Fox gave the EP 5.8 out of 10, writing "Kaleidoscope isn’t going to kickstart Coldplay’s critical reappraisal, nor does it deserve to. But it rewards those of us who’ve stuck around with a few songs that capture the band at its best".[22]
Writing for PopMatters, Mike Schiller comments "There’s no story to be told, just a small collection of tunes, some of which work beautifully, some of which fall utterly flat", giving the EP five stars out of ten,[23] and Jon Dolan, reviewing for Rolling Stone wrote "Titled after a soothing interlude from the band's 2015 LP, A Head Full of Dreams, this five-song EP continues that album's mood of tranquil satisfaction" giving it three and a half stars.[24]
^Schiller, Mike. "Coldplay: Kaleidoscope EP". PopMatters. Retrieved 24 July 2017. This is Coldplay in 2017, saying 'hi' to the mainstream by pandering to pop, and actually managing to do a not-half-bad job of it.
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