By Mike Sain't Louis ·
Tus letras son basura: a reply to those who judge without listening
For years I've been told my lyrics were too strange. Too intense, too personal, too much mine. That they didn't fit anywhere and nobody would understand them. «Tus letras son basura» (Your Lyrics Are Garbage) is what I do with all those comments: I pick them up, give them a title in capitals and turn them into a song.
The phrase in the title is exactly the kind of thing someone blurts out when they judge without listening. That's why I enjoy using it as it is. There's something very liberating about repeating the insult out loud until it loses its force and starts to sound ridiculous coming from whoever said it.
What I defend here is simple: I write my lyrics myself. With my story, my scars and my way of looking at things. Nobody signs them for me or corrects them. They may not be perfect, and I happily accept that, but they're mine, and that weighs more than any polite applause.
There are lots of people in my situation. Independent artists who write without asking permission, who'd rather be authentic than sound «commercial», and who've had that comment more than once, in a message, on social media or at a family dinner. This song is for them, so they keep creating anyway, with even more drive if possible.
The cover stages it: a dim studio, purple lights, a keyboard and a hand on the chin, with the face of someone reading a review without flinching. The words of the title take up half the image, huge, as if the accusation were a billboard. It seems to me the best way to take the sting out of it.
It goes out to all the keyboard haters. And above all to anyone with a notebook full of songs kept in a drawer for fear of what people will say.
Use it right after reading a cruel comment. It works better than replying.