La de la capilla Sixtina: the seventh life is for real

Cats have seven lives, and I, according to the lyrics, have already burned through six. The seventh is the good one, the non-negotiable one, and to christen it I came up with the most solemn place I know: the Sistine Chapel. I find that leap funny, going from talking about condoms to talking about Vatican frescoes in a couple of lines.

Because the song starts dry, almost like a door slam. I'll never again trust anyone who isn't my people. There's the first decision: close the circle, keep those who have proved they're there. And then comes the line I like most in the whole lyric, the one that says what many of us have felt after a relationship that used us and left us in the bin: «No soy un condón que tiras después de usarse» (I'm not a condom you throw away after use). It's crude, yes. But that's exactly how crude it feels.

A life with a painted ceiling

For me, «la de la capilla sixtina» (the Sistine Chapel one) works as a nickname. This life, the seventh, isn't just any life: it's the masterpiece, the one you look up at with your mouth open, the one that won't let just anyone daub on it anymore. There's something very camp about comparing yourself to a Renaissance ceiling right after making clear you're not a use-and-throw condom. That mix of the sacred and the tacky is very PLANETA GAYFOLK.

The song is short and doesn't beat around the bush. It repeats the name of the chapel like someone tattooing it on so as not to forget. There's no explanation of the past or list of culprits, only a conclusion: everything else is there to annihilate you, so better armour up.

Who would I dedicate it to? Anyone who has just come out of something that left them in pieces and is at the stage of swearing never again. And also to whoever has your back when everything else fails, those people the lyrics save from the shipwreck.

Put it on one of those days when you need to remind yourself you have one life left, that it's the best one, and that this one isn't lent to anyone.

The full lyrics are below. Listen on Spotify