44 Here Lies Love Westerners consider “fascinating” women leaders from underdeveloped countries, the former is categorized as a “rock opera.” Studies about rock often point to its capacity for subversion, and when coupled with opera suggests the staging of a subversive performance. But what about disco? This is Byrne’s explanation for the choice of disco: “I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if—as this piece would be principally composed of clubby dance music—one could experience it in a club setting? Could one bring a ‘story’ and a kind of theater to the disco? Was that possible? If so, wouldn’t that be amazing!” (2010). Another explanation that Byrne provides is that the experience of dance music may be likened to the experience of being intoxicated with power. In other interviews, Byrne refers to accounts of the disco ball Imelda had installed in her New York apartment, as well as her appearances at Studio 54. Compared to rock, disco seems to be a more fitting genre for capturing the frivolity and excessiveness of Imelda. The rhythm, tempo, and beats of the songs vary, but I would say that the music evokes nostalgia in the sense that it takes listeners back to the disco fever of the 1970s, which coincided with the period of Imelda’s reign. The genre moreover evokes Imelda’s overconsumption, if it is understood as a signifier of materialism. According to music critic Richard Dyer, disco “is a riot of consumerism, dazzling in its technology (echo chambers, double and more tracking, electric instruments), overwhelming in its scale (banks of violins, massed choirs, the limitless range of percussion instruments), lavishly gaudy in the mirrors and tat of discotheques, the glitter and denim flash of its costumes” (1979/1990, 357). Dyer points out that disco may have subversive potential if one recognizes the contradiction between the intense experience of disco and the monotonous experience of everyday life outside of disco (Ibid 357358). This ironic use of the genre is what Byrne generally fails to do in his project, which I will comment on further in the discussion of representative songs. A review from Filipino writer Jessica Zafra commends Byrne’s choice of music for “Here Lies Love”: The Imelda who emerges from Here Lies Love is not the greedy, power-mad virago many would prefer to see, but a naive country girl who truly believes that the story of the Philippines is her story. In her mind she IS the Philippines. Isn’t that what dance music does? For four minutes, it makes you believe that you are the invincible queen of the dance floor. It’s a match (2010).