"Atlas" is a song written for the soundtrack to the science-fiction film "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire", and marks Colplay's comeback after almost two years.

According to Billboard magazine, "the lyrics abstractly touch upon main characters Katniss and Peeta's mutual reliance."

"I have great respect and admiration for Coldplay, and we are thrilled with how well they have connected to the themes and ideas within the film. Their unwavering passion and excitement for the project elevated the collaboration even further, and we can't wait to share this music with audiences around the world," said the film's director Francis Lawrence.

"We are so honoured that Coldplay, one of the iconic rock bands of our generation, will perform the first song out on the new soundtrack. Knowing that Chris Martin is a fan of the books makes this even more meaningful. The Coldplay single underscores the stature of recording artists we've assembled for this powerful soundtrack," added Tracy McKnight, Lionsgate's Head of Film Music.

This is a lyric video reflecting the art style associated with "The Hunger Games". The video follows a shooting star coursing through the universe while tracing various constellations in the zodiac to the point of supernova.

Some saw the sun, some saw the smoke
Some heard the gun, some bent the bow
Sometimes the wire must tense for the note
Caught in the fire, say oh
We’re about to explode

Carry your world, I’ll carry your world
Carry your world, I’ll carry your world

Some, far away, some search for gold
Some dragon to slay
Heaven we hope is just up the road
Show me the way, Lord
Because I-I’m about to explode

Carry your world, I’ll carry your world
Carry your world, I’ll carry your world
(Carry your world)
Carry your world and all your hurt

Carry your world, carry your world

SOME= Some people.

BENT= (bend-bent-bent) To bend something is to force something into assuming a curved or angular shape. For example, we grab a rod from both ends, place it against our knee and pull towards us, and either two things may happen:
1-       I turns to ¦       
2-       I turns to ( or <
In case 1 the rod breaks in two parts, in case 2 the rod bends, either into a curved or an angular shape. (see pictures of bending)

THE BOW= /bəʊ/ (see picture)
To shoot an arrow (see picture of an arrow) you must pull from the string, so the bow bends. When you release the string, the tension liberated propels the arrow forwards.

THE WIRE= A wire is a thin cable (see picture). In this case he is thinking about a very specific kind of wire: the string of a musical instrument (guitar, violin, harp, etc), so depending on how tense the string is, the musical note will be higher or lower. But this physical tension is also used as a metaphor for another kind of psychological tension, referring to stress, problems, difficult times.

CAUGHT IN THE FIRE= If something or someone is caught in the fire, it is burning, in flames, inside the fire. The fire is also a metaphor for an extremely tense situation where things are going really bad, problems are building up and causing some kind of destruction. If the tension keeps on building, the situation may “explode”; that’s when people fight back somehow and there’s a serious and violent conflict.

ABOUT TO= If something is ABOUT TO happen, it is expected to happen very very soon.

CARRY YOUR WORLD=The line "Carry your world, I'll carry your world" is not an imperative + a future, it is simply a repetition, another poetical resource. The first part is incomplete, and the second part is complete, so it really means:
- (I'll) carry your world, I'll carry your world
To carry is to transport. “The world” is sometimes used in a figurative sense referring to all the problems that exist. In this sense, “your world” refers specifically to all your problems and worries, all the bad things in your life. So when he says “I’ll carry your world”, he means “I’ll save you”, “I’ll solve your problems”. Notice that he’s not talking about sharing your problems, or helping you with them, he’s taking all the problems away from you and dealing with them himself. And this is what gives a title to the song, because in Greek mythology, Atlas was the god who was punished to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders forever (see picture of the god Atlas).

SOME, FAR AWAY, SOME SEARCH FOR GOLD= Notice the way this sentence is dismembered and reordered even using repetitions. This is something you can do in poetry but not in ordinary language. The correct order for this sentence must be:
- Some (people) search for gold far away.

SEARCH= Look for.

SOME DRAGON TO SLAY= This sentence is part of the previous line, so the complete sentence would be:
- Far away, some people search for gold, (and) some dragon to slay.
Gold is a symbol for something very important, good and valuable. Dragons are a symbol for evil (bad) things or for some problem or memory that is causing you a lot of trouble and/or suffering.

SLAY= (old-fashioned) Kill.
Even though this verb is really old-fashioned, it is often used when we are talking about dragons.

HEAVEN WE HOPE IS JUST UP THE ROAD= Another example of poetical change of order. The correct order in normal language should be:
- We hope (that) heaven is just up the road.
In this case HEAVEN (the spiritual paradise where good people go after death) is a symbol for happiness, and the expression “just up the road” means “very close”. So this sentence means: we hope we'll soon be happy.

SHOW ME THE WAY= Show me how to do things right.

LORD= God. A very common way to address God in Christianity.
- Please, Lord, help me.
- I know the Lord will help me.

To understand this song better you must watch the movie "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire", since this song is the theme song of its soundtrack. But generally, we can say that this song is talking about a very difficult situation. So difficult that things are about to explode. Two lovers are there, in the middle of the conflict, and he is telling her something like "don't worry, everything will be fine", but most importantly he is telling her that he will take all her problems away, so she doesn't have to worry anymore.

When you are worried about too many problems (including other people's problems) people may tell you to relax, because you can't "carry the world" on your shoulders, meaning that if you feel responsible or worried by too many problems the pressure will crush you and you won't be able to solve them. So this metaphor easily connects with a well-known story from ancient Greek mythology, the story of the ancient god Atlas, who fought against Zeus and the Olympian gods and was punished to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders forever (see picture of the god Atlas).

You can read the story of Atlas here.

Note: originally, Atlas carried the globe of the sky, not the world, but since "the world" and "the universe" were often used to refer to the same thing, since times of the Renaissance  (about 15th century) Atlas was represented carrying the globe of the earth, not the skies, on his shoulders. That is why today we use the word "atlas" to refer to a map of the whole world or a collection of maps of different parts of the world.