La ley de la exageración: one and one make two narcissists

One and one make two. We learned it at school and it seemed like the most harmless truth in the world. La ley de la exageración (The Law of Exaggeration) picks it up and turns it into something else: one and one make two narcissists, two thieves who made off with twenty years of a life in one go.

I love how the title pre-empts criticism. Yes, I am the law of exaggeration, the lyrics admit, proudly. Before anyone says you're blowing things out of proportion, you say it yourself. It's a very camp move: taking on the label of drama queen and wearing it like a crown. And right after, the counter-attack: you play the victim, but really you're a bastard.

High-end and low-cost version

The funniest thing in the song is the classification. One is the saviour victim, the one who presents himself as the rescuer of the story. The other, the low-cost version. Picturing two exes as two models from the same brand, one high-end and one on special offer, is pure electronics-shop humour. Both with the same trade: narcissists by profession.

And the farewell is one of the ones that make me laugh most in the whole project: may God keep you in his glory, and goodbye. Just like that, like a village funeral, burying two living people with all the solemnity in the world and closing the door.

The song repeats three times almost identically, like a times table you have to learn by heart. And it works that way: by the third round you're already chanting the bastard bit with your arms in the air.

For me, exaggerating isn't lying. It's a way of making the pain fit into a song. When something has taken so much from you, sometimes the only way to tell it without sinking is to make it giant-sized, in garish colours, like a funfair poster. That way you can look it in the face.

Dedicate it to anyone with two exes who look suspiciously alike. Or to whoever accuses you of exaggerating: let them listen to this one and then talk.

You, play it loud. Exaggerate, that's what the law is for.

The full lyrics are below. Listen on Spotify