Background
The song's Spanish title, "Viva la Vida", is taken from a painting by 20th century Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, which translates into English as "Long Live Life." When asked about the album's title, referring to Frida Kahlo's strength, enduring polio, a broken spine, and a decade of chronic pain, Chris Martin said: "She went through a lot of shit, of course, and then she started a big painting in her house that said 'Viva la Vida', I just loved the boldness of it."
During the album's production, "Viva la Vida" was one of the songs that had polarized each member's opinion over which version they should choose. In an interview, vocalist Chris Martin recalled: "We did quite a few different versions and went round the houses a bit and eventually settled on those treatments for it."
Because of the similarities in titles, the song is often confused with "Livin' La Vida Loca" (or "Livin' the Crazy Life"), a different-sounding, more uptempo 1999 hit by the Latin pop singer Ricky Martin, who is not related to Chris Martin.
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