Chris Martin Says Gwyneth Paltrow Split Inspired New Coldplay Album

"I think in life everyone needs to be broken in some way… I think everyone in their life goes through challenges, whether it's love or money, kids or illness. You have to really not run away from that stuff."

Martin and Paltrow announced their separation last month via a post on Paltrow's Goop website entitled "Conscious Uncoupling."

"Up to a certain point in my life I wasn't completely vulnerable and it caused some problems," Martin tells Lowe. "If you don't let love in then you can't really give it back. So what 'Ghost Stories' means to me is like, you've got to open yourself up to love and if you really do, of course it will be painful at times, but then it will be great at some point."

The new album drops May 19 in North America. Coldplay are hyping "Ghost Stories" by slipping lyrics from each of its nine songs into actual ghost story books in libraries in nine different countries. After following clues to their whereabouts, one special lyric sheet will come with a free trip to London to see Coldplay perform July 1.