Frontman Chris Martin told Rolling Stone that he christened this song and the album "Viva la Vida" - meaning "long live life" or more literally, "the life lives" - after he saw the phrase on a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo called Sandías con leyenda: Viva la vida. He explained: "She went through a lot of s--t, of course, and then she started a big painting in her house that said 'Viva la Vida.' I just loved the boldness of it." The movie Frida, starring Salma Hayek, is about Kahlo's life.
Both this and "Violet Hill" debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for week ending May 24, 2008. It is a rare feat for an act to have two songs debuting in the same week.
This song was released exclusively on iTunes, and was featured in a commercial for the music-download service that showed stylized images of the band performing the song. The spot hyped the song nicely, presenting the name of it at the end - helpful since the title doesn't appear in the lyrics.
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