Revered as an essential rock song of the 2000s, “Viva La Vida” tells the story of a monarch who’s lost his kingdom. In another aspect, the song is also seen as a narrative on the French Revolution given the historical and biblical references in the lyrics. The instrumental is based around a string and piano background, led by an orchestral drum beat.

The title derives from the Spanish phrase “Long Live Life,” and takes its name from Frida Kahlo’s last painting before her death. During a March 2008 interview with Rolling Stone, frontman Chris Martin explained the reason for naming the song and album in honour of Kahlo:

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.

This song debuted to massive success and acclaim, peaking at number one on both the Billboard 100 and UK Singles Chart. Coldplay received several awards for the track, including Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards in February 2009.

The chorus has musical similarities to Joe Satriani’s instrumental piece, “If I Could Fly.” Satriani sued Coldplay for plagiarism—they settled out of court. The band Creaky Boards also accused Coldplay of taking the song’s melody from their record, “The Songs I Didn’t Write,” however, Coldplay denied the allegations.

Coldplay released two music videos for this song. Hype Williams made the official video, which premiered in August 2008, depicting the band against a backdrop of Eugène Delacroix’s painting, Liberty Leading the People. The alternate music video dropped alongside the first one but was directed by Anton Corbijn and starred Chris Martin as a king.