Which song did Beyoncé reject from Coldplay's Chris Martin? Hymn for the Weekend music video controversy explored

In a February 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Chris Martin revealed that Beyoncé turned down his offer to collaborate on a song called Hook Up. She was polite but told him the song was awful.

“In the sweetest possible way: She told me, ‘I really like you – but this is awful,'” recalled Martin in the interview.

However, the two juggernauts of the industry did collaborate on a song called Hymn for the Weekend, and it peaked in the charts immediately after its release. However, Coldplay and Beyoncé had to face severe criticism from fans because of the way certain cultural nuances were presented in the music video.

Why was Beyoncé and Coldplay's Hymn for the Weekend controversial?

Beyoncé in Hymn for the Weekend (image via YouTube/Coldplay - Hymn For The Weekend (Official Video))

The music video for Hymn for the Weekend was slammed by several critics and pundits across the world for the way it portrayed cultural cliches in India. Shot in various Indian cities including Worli, Mumbai, and Kolkata, the video was described by many as 4 minutes and 20 seconds' worth of cultural appropriation of what Westerners think of India.

Starting at Fort Vasai in Maharashtra, the video features dancing peacocks, chanting sages clad in orange, and people disguised as various deities across the streets of the city. The festival of Holi forms the main theme of the music video as we see many people on the roads walking around with colors on their faces.

Hymn for the Weekend's music video also features the iconic Maratha Mandir theater in Mumbai which is popular across the country for playing the film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge every day for the past twenty-two years. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol Devgn and is widely considered one of the most iconic landmarks of 1990s Bollywood, i.e., India's Hindi film industry. The music video also featured Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor along with Beyoncé.

After the song's release, social media went ablaze with criticism over the alleged claims of cultural cliches.

"Why does the white man not get it? India 2016 is not a land of snake charmers,” asked one X user.

Another Indian musician Mihir Joshi explained that Coldplay and Beyoncé practiced the alleged cultural appropriation even after coming to India and witnessing that modern India is 'educated' and 'affluent'.

“Coldplay came to India, they’ve seen the kind of people we have. India has young, educated, affluent, good-looking people as well,” commented the musician (via CNN World).

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However, music video star Sonam Kapoor disagreed with the criticisms and argued that the scenes shown in the Hymn for the Weekend video do happen in India even today and claimed that Indians were getting a taste of their own medicine for making a cliche out of Western culture.

“We as Indians use a lot of westernization in our films and our music videos. No one speaks of us offending other people’s sensibilities,” argued Kapoor (via CNN World).

Hymn for the Weekend topped several charts across the world

Hymn for the Weekend's music video currently stands at more than two billion views on YouTube, making it the most-viewed video of Coldplay. It is also the second-most viewed video among all the videos in which the band has ever featured, narrowly beaten by Chainsmokers' Something Just Like This.

Hymn for the Weekend claimed the top spot in the charts of several countries like Spain, Switzerland, France, Austria, Italy, Belgium, and Ireland. The song peaked at #25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at #6 on the UK Singles Chart.

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Edited by Divya Singh