By Jono Edwards, Otago Daily Times

Don't panic - it all makes sense. British musical giants Coldplay chose the Otago Daily Times, of all the world's media outlets, to reveal lyrics to their new album.

Photo: AFP

Readers would have noticed 15 cryptic advertisements in yesterday's paper, including lyrics such as ''Lord when I'm broken and I'm in need, feel that ocean swallowing me''.

They featured religious allusions and several contained passages in the Persian language Farsi.

Many of the advertisements outlined accompanying chords to the songs.

The Fix You and Yellow musicians told their 23.7 million Twitter followers yesterday afternoon that anyone in the ''Dunedin area of New Zealand'' could find the lyrics to all the songs from their upcoming album in the ODT.

There was an "excellent article on Buenos Aires' nightlife" next to the lyrics of a song called Eko on page 17, the band said in the tweet.

The album, Everyday Life, will be released on Friday.

A Warner Music New Zealand spokeswoman said the ODT was the only newspaper in the world to feature the lyrics to the 15 songs.

It was also one of a few newspapers internationally to feature the album's track listing on October 24, "spotted by eagle-eyed fans in their classified section", she said.

"Coldplay have not announced any future tour plans to New Zealand as yet, but we'll let you know if anything changes."

Questions about why the paper was chosen above any other in the world were referred to Warner Music's United Kingdom office, but it did not respond yesterday.

This story first appeared in the Otago Daily Times