Chris Martin has revealed an unlikely source of inspiration – Katy Perry.

The Coldplay frontman says he listened to the pop princess before penning his unusually uplifting track Sky Full of Stars.

Katy Perry on stage
Katy Perry on stage (PA)

Chris revealed in a new video for Beats by Dre: “I was listening to a lot of Katy Perry. A lot of her songs have the same chord sequence the whole time. Your body feels comfortable with them and then the melody is changing on top so there’s a groove you really get into.”

He added: “Then I realised all these other people that have done that. Nirvana being a classic example – Smells Like Teen Spirit is the same chord sequence basically the whole time.”

He admitted: “Some people turn their nose up at [it]“.

But Chris, who announced his “conscious uncoupling” from wife Gwyneth Paltrow earlier this year, admitted that the song is a little bit of light relief in his latest, emotional album.

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow in January
Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow in January (Colin Young-Wolff /Invision/AP)

“Ghost Stories is probably an album about heartbreak,” he said. “But it’s not saying that something is broken so you should just give up. It’s saying something is broken so let’s fix it and make it better than it was before.”