By Mike Sain't Louis ·
Outsider radical: a manifesto for not asking permission
Outsider radical isn't like the other songs on this planet. There's no catchy chorus and no ex-boyfriend story. What there is, is a manifesto, spoken in the first person and with the confidence of someone already tired of explaining himself.
The text starts with something I've heard many times: that what I do doesn't count, that it isn't art. And instead of defending itself with rage, it answers with a very simple question: why do some people get their tools questioned and others don't? For me that's the heart of the word outsider: being outside the circle that decides what's legitimate and what isn't.
What matters most to me in the text is the inventory of what lies behind every line. Grief, abuse, rage, beauty, madness and hope, all together. All of that was felt before it was written. The technique, whatever it is, only helps turn it into a universe. That idea, that the soul isn't in the technique but in the intention, is what holds up the whole of PLANETA GAYFOLK.
There's a line that sums up the attitude: «Yo no pido permiso para crear» ("I don't ask permission to create"). It's followed by another just as important, asking for respect for the process. It isn't arrogance, it's a request for dignity. And then comes the most radical part, being willing to be blamed for being one of the first to cross a border.
The text also describes the project as a conceptual autobiography, a diary for catharsis. I like that definition, because it explains why such different songs live side by side on the planet: the copla of spite, the camp party, the slump in English. It all comes from the same place.
And the ending is almost a secular prayer: turning pain into beauty and loneliness into an anthem. Welcome to GAYFOLK, where emotion is still human.
I dedicate this piece to any creative person who's been told their work is worthless. To whoever is outside the circuit, with no godparents and no membership card, doing it anyway. Listen to it when you don't feel like carrying on and need someone to remind you why you started.