By Mike Sain't Louis ·
El Impostor: six years, three hundred photos and a pink box
«¿Queréis saber por qué?» ("Do you want to know why?"). That's how El Impostor (The Impostor) opens, with a question thrown at the audience, like someone stepping onto a stage to tell something they've kept to themselves for too long. And the answer takes up the whole song.
What comes to light is harsh: after six years, the certainty that the other person was never in love. The lyrics don't argue it with grand phrases, but with evidence. Small, concrete, impossible to dispute.
While one had spent a week crying, the other took a selfie and put a filter on it. On the last day in the house, a box with three hundred photos given as a gift ended up in the bin amid tears that sounded forced; and when he left, the pink box was still there. That image, the forgotten pink box, seems to me one of the saddest in the catalogue.
The pieces of the puzzle
The song moves forward like a list of grievances. His big concern was keeping his mobile line working. There was never an explanation, just a new version every day. There was a voice message saying he was tired of always being the one pulling the relationship along. And to protect his reputation, according to the lyrics, he had no problem saying there was someone else and that the other was off his rocker.
There's also a review of lost intimacy: there were no more kisses or hugs, and on holiday came rejection. And even so, the writer insists the other never bothered to really get to know him, nor knew how bad a time he was having.
In the end, all the pieces fit. The conclusion is the title's: he was an impostor. Someone who, in the song's words, has parasitised him.
It's a very long set of lyrics, almost recited, closer to letting off steam than to a conventional song. And it ends with a direct challenge: listen to this and tell me if anything is false.
It's not for just any moment. It's for when you need to know you're not the only one who took years to see what was in front of you. And that realising late doesn't make you a fool.
The full lyrics are further down. Listen on Spotify
Lyrics · EL IMPOSTOR
¿Queréis saberPor quéme enterédespuésde seis añosde quenunca estuvoenamorado de mí?
Porque mientras yollevaba llorandouna semanasabiendo díatras díacosas dolorosas
él se estabahaciendouna foto deselfie yañadiéndolaun efecto
Porque elÚltimo día queCoincidimos en la casaTiré una cajaCon trescientas fotosQue yo le habíaRegalado al cuboDe la basuraEscuché llantos forzadosY cuando al final seFue, en la basuraSeguía la cajaRosa que conTanta ilusiónLe había regalado
Que mientras que yaMe había marchado de casaSiempre negaba todoY solo le preocupaba tenerLa línea de su móvilOperativa
Que a pesar de todoNo ha sido capazDe darme una explicaciónNunca ha contestadoA mis preguntasCada día es una nuevaVersiónTampoco ha insistidoMucho en verme mejor
Porque me vióllorando el último díaSabía que teníalas de ganar viéndomedestrozado y tuvoel valor de enviarun audiodiciendo que élestaba cansadode estar siempre de larelación tirando
que con tal de quesu reputación noquede manchadano le ha importadoir diciendo que hayotro y que ademásyo estaba majaraPorque como es elTrozo de panNo pueden saberla otraparte desconocidade él
En su conciencia quedaTodo lo que ha hechoTan poca cosa he sidoQue ni te has molestadoEn ayudarme a cerrarEl ciclo y haber sidoSincero por una vez enTu vida
He estado el últimoMes con un extrañoY aunque ahoraTodas las piezas delPuzzle vanEncajandoYa no tengo ningunaDudaQue ha sido un impostorY que me has parasitado
Porque lasúltimassemanasen Tik Tokya nose cortabaporqueque ya yosufrierase lapelaba
Porqueen lacamauna vez alañose meacercabaporqueya no mebesabaporqueya no meabrazabaporque cuandoíbamos devacacionesme rechazaba
porque le dabaigual si yolloraba
porque realmentese ha molestadoen conocermetan pocoque no sabeque he estadocomo unzombie y untaradoa punto dehacer unalocuraen un acantilado
porque conquedar enesto bienposicionadono le importadejarmea mí por untarado
Estás muyequivocadoEscucha estacancióny dime sihay algofalso.
Esta es la historiade un impostorcanario
Lyrics as published with the official music video, on the MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS label.