42 Here Lies Love or for that matter, many chiefs of state” (1998, 8). For Ellison, “It was Imelda’s tragic missteps and the specter of her taking over that finally cost the couple their rule.” While Imelda’s power is derived from her marriage to Ferdinand, it is clear that she wields power of her own. As Vicente Rafael has argued, differentiating Imelda’s biography from that of her husband: “Power excites her precisely because she did not always expect to have it…her power came less from her husband’s [purported] destiny than from her ability to turn herself into an image that recalls a sense of shared loss among those who watch her” (1990, 289). If the Imelda myth is to be believed, this power is something Imelda rightly deserves. Consider, for instance, this passage from a much-cited Imelda biography: “While it is true that she worked as an intense campaigner for the victory of her husband, her ascendancy to the First Ladyship is largely an accomplishment of fate. The story of her life is a pattern of reward and justice far beyond her power to have attained” (Pedrosa 1969, 221). For Rafael, Imelda’s power comes from her “lethal charm” that Ferdinand used to serve his political interests. Viewed this way, Rafael considers Imelda the “Other Marcos.” Much like the spectacle of the uninhibited female “bomba” stars in pornographic films which were popular during the Marcos years, Rafael argues that “The mythology of the Marcos romance underlined not only the lethal charm of Imelda, but also Ferdinand’s conquest of that charm” (1990, 290). Imelda was domesticated by Ferdinand and thus served as Ferdinand’s very own political “bomba” star. While Rafael’s reading of Imelda is persuasive, it also dangerously borders on justifying Imelda’s acts as merely dependent on the male Marcos. It is worth reiterating that for all her drama and antics, Imelda was indeed Ferdinand’s accomplice during the dictatorial regime. As Balance puts it, “…Imelda’s power to charm and deceive [should be viewed] as a gendered corollary to her husband’s legislative and military power by force” (2010, 121). Balance cites Imelda’s performances of singing and weeping in local and international stages as her way of using her “feminine” charm to garner sympathy and perpetuate her myth, as she continues to do so today. Imelda continues to perform for the public using her infamous charm and other antics, which obviously captured Byrne’s attention. And so, while the Western world continues to watch, (with fascination and from a safe distance), “Here Lies Love” provides Imelda with her own personalized soundtrack. Balance’s study mostly focused on Imelda’s performance of music and lament, but she also cites recent projects (including Byrne’s) that seek