Coldplay's Chris Martin Calls Rihanna the "Frank Sinatra of Our Generation," Compares Her Voice to Toothpaste

Coldplay's Chris Martin dubbed Rihanna the "Frank Sinatra of our generation" and also compared her voice to toothpaste.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Rihanna has been called many things throughout her lifetime: Robyn by her parents, queen by her fans and now, the Frank Sinatra of this generation by Chris Martin.  

The Coldplay frontman, who will share headlining duties with the "This Is What You Came For" singer at Jay Z’s Made in America Festival this Labor Day weekend, praised the 28-year-old for her unique tone before comparing her to a legendary, blue-eyed singer.

"She is the Frank Sinatra of our generation. She can turn anything into gold with that voice," he told the Guardian. "Here's the thing: if you speak to a good singing teacher about great opera singers, they will talk about consistency of tone. Or there's a book by Alfred Tomatis about why some people like certain people's voices and other people hate them, like Bob Dylan or me or whoever, some people say, 'Oh, I hate that voice', so there's a thing about people's frequency responses—what they are pleased by. Rihanna has this thick tone, so it's very hard to annoy anybody. It’s like a beautifully squeezed tube of toothpaste."

He continued, "When you think of Rihanna's voice you think of this whole, rich thing, solid like a tree trunk, and Drake is pretty similar. But Rihanna's voice is just delicious for your ear. Sinatra had the same thing; anything he sang sounded pleasing to most people.”

Toothpaste comparisons aside, the two previously worked together on the 2011 single, "Princess of China" off Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto album. Hopefully, the Made in America Festival will produce another monster collab.

In the meantime, you can catch Rihanna thirsting for LeBron James on Instagram or traveling through Europe for her ANTI world tour

Latest in Music