We've all dated a guy who could ruin Coldplay for you

Herald Sun

3 days ago

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We've all got one.
That one song, that one band, that one album that now tastes like heartbreak. Maybe it was playing in the background when he broke up with you. Maybe it was your song - the one he sang in the car with his whole chest before he blew up your life. Or maybe it was Coldplay.
For the wife of Andy Byron - the tech CEO now going viral after appearing on the Coldplay kiss cam with his alleged HR-chief mistress - it's going to be Coldplay. Forever.
And that's not just cruel. That's psychological warfare.
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A tech CEO was busted on the kiss cam with his HR exec mistress. Image: TikTok/@instaagraace
The kiss cam moment that blew up the internet
Last week, at a Coldplay concert in Boston, the band's kiss cam panned to a couple cuddling in the crowd. As the audience cooed and Chris Martin smiled, the man - later identified as Byron - ducked out of view like a panicked meerkat while the woman beside him, HR executive Kristin Cabot, frantically turned away and shielded her face.
From the stage, Chris Martin joked, 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy.'
Turns out, it was the former.
TikTok detectives quickly linked the couple to a billion-dollar AI company called Astronomer, where Byron is CEO and Cabot is his HR hire. Since then, their names have been blasted across headlines and hashtags, dissected on Reddit threads, and framed in reaction memes like a tech-industry telenovela.
Internet users pointed out that Byron's wife quietly removed her married name from social media. Her Facebook was eventually deleted altogether - presumably to avoid the thousands of comments flooding in from strangers watching her marriage unravel in real time.
The wife didn't just lose her husband - she lost her soundtrack
The internet is having a field day. And yes, from a distance, it's deliciously messy. The kiss cam. The cringey scramble. The 'f***ing hell, it's me' vibe of the footage. If the goal was to cheat discreetly, attending a concert with literal stadium-wide cameras was… bold.
But here's the thing: behind the LOLs and the gossip and the Chrissy Teigen-level memes is a woman. A wife. Possibly a mother. And she's now the unwitting protagonist of a viral cheating saga, her life detonated in surround sound.
And it wasn't just detonated. It was scored.
With Coldplay.
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Coldplay is everywhere - supermarkets, lifts, hold music. Image: Instgram/Coldplay
You can't escape Coldplay - and now she can't escape the pain
This is the part that gets me - the music. Because Coldplay isn't niche. It's not like her ex ruined an obscure Swedish doom-metal band. Coldplay is everywhere. It's in supermarkets, shopping centres, airport lounges, elevators, hold music. You can't even watch a rom-com trailer without Fix You or The Scientist playing behind a montage of heartbreak and rain.
Every time this woman goes to buy groceries, or waits on hold to cancel a joint phone plan, or orders a cab that's tuned into Smooth FM, there's a solid chance Chris Martin will be there, whisper-singing directly to her trauma.
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From the stage, Martin joked, 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy.' Image: Instagram/Coldplay
Music is memory - and heartbreak has a playlist
That's the thing about music and memory - they attach themselves to each other. Songs are time capsules. Emotional landmines. And when a betrayal happens in stereo, you don't just lose your partner. You lose your playlists.
There's something especially brutal about discovering your husband is cheating via jumbotron. But what breaks me is the thought of this woman turning on the radio and being gut-punched by Clocks.
Because we've all been there. Maybe not at the scale of a viral tech scandal, but we've all had someone ruin a song. A cafe. A park bench. A scent. A suburb. Love has a way of soaking into the fibres of everyday life - and when it's ripped away, those fibres turn to razor wire.
She didn't ask for this spotlight
Right now, this woman is probably living in shock. She's probably fielding calls and deleting apps and wondering if anyone's told the kids. She's not laughing at the kiss cam. She's not scrolling TikTok for takes. She's staring at a house that feels different now. At a man she doesn't recognise. At a future she didn't see coming.
And while the world jokes about mistresses and HR policies and bad life choices scored by soft rock, she's in mourning. Not just for her marriage - but for everything that used to feel safe. Including Coldplay.
From viral gossip to a personal tragedy
So yes, we're all laughing at the kiss cam couple. But maybe - quietly, tenderly - we could also spare a thought for the woman whose heart just broke in four million pixels. The woman who didn't ask to be part of the show. The woman who'll never be able to hear Yellow again without feeling sick.
Because we've all dated a guy who could ruin Coldplay for you. And once they do, there's no getting it back.
Originally published as We've all dated a guy who could ruin Coldplay for you