July 5, 2012 - submitted by Stephanie L, Canada

Q. Hi, I was wondering why all of the sudden Chris Martin gives shout outs to bands... I stumbled apon this video and was wondering if it had any relevance to the One Direction song. If so, to be honest it doesn't sound like the tune at all! Thanks and lots of love from Scarborough, Canada !!

The Oracle replies:

Giving a shout out to someone - whether that's a someone in the audience, a someone who has recently died or a someone who hails from that local area - it doesn't mean it's intended to be a cover version. It's just a nod. In this case I understand that a member of aforementioned boy band was in attendance so yes, it was relevant to the song he chose to quote from. He didn't sing it; he said the title of the song.
It's not all of a sudden by the way, Chris has been acknowledging people for over a decade!