What it means to me to call myself «el primer cantautor IA», the first AI songwriter

I chose that phrase knowing it would annoy someone. The purists of the canción de autor, Spain's author-song tradition, because of the "AI". Tech enthusiasts, because of the «cantautor», which will sound old-fashioned to them. And close readers, because of the "first". Three fronts opened with five words. Not bad for a label.

In English I say "the first AI songwriter". In Spanish it's «el primer cantautor IA». I want to explain what I mean by it, because it lends itself to misunderstandings, and one of them is important.

What it doesn't mean

I'll start with what it isn't. The vocals on my songs aren't mine. I don't perform them, I don't record a lead line, I don't walk on stage with a guitar. I say it as plainly as that because the Spanish word «cantautor» has the verb «cantar», to use your voice in a song, built right into it, and it's easy to assume that's what I do. It isn't.

So why use it? Because in Spanish «cantautor» doesn't only describe a performer. It describes a way of understanding the song: someone who writes what you hear, who has something to say in the first person and whose point of view comes above everything else. The cantautor tradition is about authorship, about the lyric, about the idea that a song belongs to someone. That part really is mine.

The author part

I write every lyric for PLANETA GAYFOLK. That's where the "author" in the word comes from, and it's the half I care about most. The lyrics are about gay love, exes, pride, self-esteem and everyday life. With humour, with camp, with a touch of copla, the old Spanish torch song. They're mine from start to finish, with my titles, which often arrive before the song: «La vecina cotilla» (The nosy neighbour), «Mi novio de Albacete» (My boyfriend from Albacete), «La primera drag» (The first drag queen).

When a classic cantautor sat down to write, he had something to tell and his own way of telling it. I try to do the same. My way is different, less solemn, but the gesture is similar: someone sits down and says what he thinks, in songs.

The AI part

I produce the music with artificial intelligence, specifically with Suno. I direct it. I give it directions, listen to what it proposes, discard, ask again, choose. The vocals you hear on my songs come out of that process, not out of my throat. I say so in the label itself so nobody has to guess.

I like the two words going together because they describe exactly how I work: a human author with a new tool. If I'd chosen just «cantautor», I'd be hiding half the story. If I'd chosen something like "AI artist", it would look as though the machine did everything while I watched. Neither is true.

I also like what the word says about direction. A cantautor decides how what he writes should sound: slower, happier, more dramatic. In my case I make those decisions by directing the tool. If a song like «La primera drag» calls for sparkle and ceremony, I'm the one who hunts for it among the versions and throws out the ones that fall short. The machine proposes. The direction is mine. That's why I don't feel like an impostor using a word with so much history behind it, even if I use it in a way nobody would have imagined a few years ago.

The "first" bit

This is the part that raises the most eyebrows. The first, really?

I'll answer honestly: I can't prove it with a certificate. There's no official register of AI songwriters. What I can say is that I don't know of anyone using that label in Spanish with a catalogue behind it. And the catalogue is there: 273 singles, more than 280 music videos, a trilogy of albums. When I say "the first AI songwriter", I say it with all of that behind me, not on the strength of one stray song.

There's an element of play in it too, I won't deny it. Calling yourself "the first" has a touch of swagger about it, of copla, of the artist billed in big letters on the poster. I like that cheek. It fits my songs. If someone proves to me there was another one before, I'll buy them a coffee and call myself "one of the first". I genuinely have no problem with that.

When I launched mikesaintlouis.com, in October 2026, I had to decide how to introduce myself in the first line. There's no room for nuance there. There's room for a few words. I thought about "producer", which is true but cold. About "composer", which is true but confusing with AI in the mix. About "artistic director", which sounds like a museum post.

I settled on "the first AI songwriter" because it's short, it sticks and it forces a question. And the question leads straight to what I do: I write the lyrics, AI provides the music and I direct it. I'd rather have a label that prompts a question than one that shuts the conversation down.

There's one thing that makes me uneasy and I want to put it in writing. I know some people will read «cantautor» and feel slightly cheated when they find out the vocals aren't mine. I understand. That's why I explain it whenever I can, tiresome as it is. A label that needs explaining has a flaw, and I accept that. But every short label lies a little. This one, at least, lies less than the others I tried.

And I like to think that in a few years there may be lots of AI songwriters and the word won't surprise anyone. If that happens, I'll be happy to have been one of those who used it first, with my full name on it.

Everything I do, with the full lyrics, is at mikesaintlouis.com.