Usted es un puto narci psico encubierto: a PA announcement

«Atención, atención» (Attention, attention). Like the announcement in a shopping centre when a child has got lost, that's how the star moment of this song begins. Only here what's announced over the PA is that there's a narcissistic psychopath on the loose in the company.

Before getting to the party, the lyrics allow themselves a few lines of confession. At first I didn't notice anything, I still had old wounds that hadn't closed, and anyone who knows how to spot these things can smell the perfect victim from miles away. That opening is serious, almost a whisper. And suddenly, the scene changes.

The appointment nobody asked for

I love imagining the situation: the gentleman is awaited by the director together with the best psychologist in Villaverde. It's just a moment, the announcement says, with that front-desk courtesy used to deliver bad news. A diagnosis needs confirming. And, with deepest regret, there are suspicions. Everything very by-the-book, very form-filling, until the whole title is let loose without anaesthetic.

For me that's where the fun lies: using the most formal language in the world, the usted (the formal "you"), the counter-clerk condolences, to unleash such a down-to-earth Madrid insult. It's revenge in a tie. The chorus repeats four times in a row and each time it sounds more like a football-terrace chant, the kind you learn on the first go.

Villaverde, by the way, gives the scene a very Madrid, very neighbourhood air, which I think is perfect. It's not a Swiss clinic or an American TV-series psychiatrist; it's the psychologist from the south of Madrid, who has surely seen it all.

It's a song for anyone who has worked side by side with someone charming on the outside and venomous on the inside, and took a while to see it. For anyone who needs to laugh at what hurt them. Put it on on the way to the office if you still share a floor with that kind of person. And if not anymore, put it on to celebrate that your inner PA system finally works.

Nobody needs to confirm the diagnosis. Sometimes it's enough to be able to say it out loud, and in this case, very loud.

The full lyrics are below. Listen on Spotify