46 Here Lies Love opens with this stanza: “We’re talking—about the whole man/In body— in mind and in spirit/And you, give the body, what is good, good, good, good/You make him—educated.” The song explains Imelda’s philosophy of love and beauty, her interest in cosmology, and her infamous “Pac-man” sketches. Even as more songs are told from the perspective of Imelda, it is more crucial to look into those sung by Imelda’s Other in the narrative: Estrella Cumpas. The album’s narrative attempts to show the opposite paths that Imelda and Estrella’s lives took. As Imelda rose to power, Estrella plunged further into poverty, despite the promise earlier made by Imelda’s mother that Estrella will “be taken care of.” “Every Drop of Rain” illustrates how Estrella and Imelda lived in poverty together, but their dreams and concerns were different to begin with. Estrella worried about how they would survive: “When it rained we slept on boxes/There was water all around”; Imelda was already dreaming of a better life: “But the people in the big house/Never bothered to find out/No clothes, no bed, no jewelry/Sometimes I had no shoes.” Two tracks later, Estrella sings again in “How Are You?” Estrella pays a visit to Imelda who was already living with rich Romualdez relatives in Manila. Although the lyrics seem to cover an exchange between the two, Estrella sings the entire upbeat song that fades away in the end, signaling that this is the last time they will meet. This stanza hints at the inevitable parting of ways: “And your life—is just beginning/And my life—is almost through/I’ve given up—never finished school/There was too much—too much work to do.” After two tracks that feature Imelda and Ferdinand’s romance, the wistful song “When She Passed By” portrays Estrella as an outsider to Imelda’s new life of power. She sings about how she read about Imelda’s marriage in the news, and that she’s happy for Imelda. The song portrays Estrella’s refusal to accept that Imelda has forgotten her, because “letters get lost in the mail.” The last lines of the song shows that Estrella acknowledges Imelda’s importance in history: “Feel like I’m watching history/Living before my eyes/Many years from now/We’ll recall just how/How she looked when she passed by.” It takes eight tracks after for Estrella to resurface in “Never So Big.” Estrella’s words are confusing, as she herself still cannot accept that Imelda has forgotten her. She asks questions like “Can I get a message through to you?” and “Are you the girl that I once knew?” The 19th track of the album opens Act IV (Imelda’s downfall), “Solano Avenue,” a funky soul song that shows Estrella’s revenge. Although not integrated in the lyrics, notes on the scene structure explain that Estrella exposed Imelda’s life of poverty in