I’m probably starting off on a bad foot here, but I do consider myself a bit of a music snob. I check Pitchfork daily and agree with them 90 percent of the time. I kept my black iPod classic for six years after it lost its relevance to society because *scoffs* “iPhones just don’t hold enough music.” I will forever and always argue that "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" is the best album of the ‘90s. There are certain rules you have to follow while being a self-declared music snob, including frequently repeating that you don’t listen to the radio and owning at least eight Bob Dylan albums (including at least one from his country stage), and I’ve done my darndest to uphold those rules, but there is one I’ve been knowingly infringing upon for years.

*deep breath*

I like Coldplay.

Coldplay is the apotheosis of what makes most music snobs cringe. They’re a nice-guy interpretation of "Bends"-era Radiohead (and messing with Radiohead to a music snob is like messing with Peyton Manning to a Broncos fan), their lyrics often have the complexity and insight of an eighth grader’s Facebook status, and, worst of all, they’re popular. Like, really popular. Any '90s kid probably knows the words to “Fix You” better than the Pledge of Allegiance, and while Beach House can release two incredible albums within two months and this news not reach more than five of your friends, Coldplay even considering making an album is given the same media attention as Hillary Clinton’s emails.

So I understand why they get so much hate.

But even through “I’d rather be a comma than a full stop” and “You stole my star, lalalalalala,” I’ve always been pro-Coldplay. And to understand why, it’s essential to know that you can’t view Coldplay through the same lens that you view other bands. Whether you love them or hate them, they fill a unique role in the world of today’s music. They’re the world’s biggest band in a world that doesn’t have big bands anymore. The days of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and The Who, or even U2, R.E.M, and The Police fighting for the biggest band in the world are gone. Bands like Kings of Leon and Imagine Dragons are two album acts at most, and bands like Pearl Jam and The Red Hot Chili Peppers are relics of the past. Coldplay’s lack of competition for biggest band, of course, doesn’t automatically qualify them as a good band, but I have to argue that they’re doing exactly what they should be in their role.

Coldplay has the entire spotlight, and historically, that spotlight has caused many bands to react in a variety of ways. Some blow it, like the aforementioned Kings of Leon. Some do something incredible, like Radiohead, who artistically rejected the spotlight and released the experimental and excellent "Kid A," but in doing so, stepped out of the spotlight and no longer filled the role of the biggest band in the world. "Kid A" is one of the greatest albums ever made, but for the sake of this argument, it’s important to recognize that "Kid A" was made by Radiohead and for Radiohead, not for Radiohead fans.

And that’s the thing. Coldplay has always been a band for their listeners. If Coldplay released an experimental art album with some songs featuring practically no melody, they would betray absolutely everything that makes them Coldplay. It would be like an Adele rap album. Innovative, but awful. Coldplay has been cranking out your guilty pleasures since you were six, and that’s exactly what makes them a great band; they’re pleasures. You may hate “Yellow” and “The Scientist” on principle, but not because of the way they sound. It’s inherently enjoyable music, featuring soaring choruses, immediately catchy melodies, and slick production.

But in that sense, I’ve just described pop music as a whole, and "pop music is terrible!!!" you tell me. "God, plz gIve us Jimmi Hendrixx back nd we’ll give u Justin BEAVER!!!" you say, breaking multiple letters off of your keyboard. And that’s true; just because something sounds good and catchy doesn’t make it good music. See; Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea. But what separates Coldplay from other pop acts is that they are doing pop music better than practically anyone else.

“Clocks” was the early 2000’s “Lean on Me” in the sense that it was the song every pop act wished they had written. It had a piano melody that no one could quite match in the years to come, and a driving force about it that was irresistible. “Viva La Vida” was the only pop song in 2008 featuring essentially only classical stringed instruments and still managed to be the most enjoyable song of the year. “Paradise” made great use of a high-pitched “PARA-PARA-PARADISE” chorus that should have made more sense coming from a satisfied parrot than one of the most successful songs of the decade. And these are just their singles, which are by no means their most enjoyable work. Even a music snob can’t sit through songs like “Strawberry Swing” or “Up in Flames” without enjoying them, whether admitting so or not. And it’s difficult to think of many artists in modern music history who have been able to put out as consistent a discography as Coldplay's for 15 years.

Coldplay is music for the layman; they’re not going to release a devastatingly powerful song about black-on-black violence and racism like Kendrick Lamar or reference Angkor Wat and Communist readers in the same stanza like Vampire Weekend. Those artists (and they are two of my favorites) are set out to make the best and most innovative music of our time. Coldplay, conversely, is set out to make the most enjoyable music of our time, and succeeding. They’re the ones to release a song with a huge, uplifting, sky-soaring chorus like “A Sky Full of Stars,” featuring a metaphor that really only makes sense if you’re drunkenly texting your ex while laying down in front of some apartment’s lawn waiting for your Uber. It’s dumb, but in a way that you hate to admit, relatable. Their lyrics are honest expressions of a helpless romantic; confessional, but often embarrassing. And their melodies are that of someone who is in love with the feeling of raising their hands up and jumping up and down to a huge melody at a music festival, or looking out their window on a melancholy rainy day.

And I don't see something inherently wrong with that. No, they’re not music snobs set to challenge the status quo. But Coldplay represents that side of music, and that side of us, that we’ve stopped appreciating with age. It’s a romantic innocence that’s not as worried about what would happen if Donald Trump became president or existential meanderings as much as it’s concerned about those moments when you’re just plain happy or sad, dammit. It's music for the young romantic in you who falls in love with people and the world haphazardly, not the new, intellectual you that doubts and calculates every decision. An artist's nightmare, perhaps, but a dreamer's (excuse the pun) paradise. The biggest band in the world has chosen to make you music that you're supposed to just enjoy. I won't argue that they're the best band of our time; not even close. But maybe they don't deserve the hate they get.

In fact, Coldplay has received almost the most amount of flack from music snobs in the past couple of decades (Nickelback remains king in this regard). I assume this is because if you look at Coldplay in the same lens you view Radiohead, as an innovative band trying to push the very boundaries of what it means to make music, of course they’re a disappointment. But they’re not Radiohead. Coldplay is trying to make enjoyable, relatable music with which we can step outside of our crazy, complex, insane world for just a few minutes and enjoy a song about every teardrop being a waterfall, without worrying about whatever in God’s name that could possibly mean. And they do it like experts.

So despite being a music snob, I support Coldplay, and probably always will. I will carry my pretentiousness with me everywhere else I go, and will analyze and pick apart any release that comes out in 2016, just like in 2015 and all the years before it. But I make my exception with Coldplay. I’m just going to sit back, relax, and enjoy an “Adventure of a Lifetime.”