Laughing At You or Laughing With You? Seven Chorus Rules From Mike Sain't Louis, the Madrid Indie Artist Who Writes Jokes You Can Shout Together

Madrid, October 25, 2026.

The chorus is the part of a song people take home. Verses fade, bridges get skipped, but the chorus sticks like gum on a shoe. That is why Mike Sain't Louis, the Madrid-based alternative indie artist who presents himself as “the first AI singer-songwriter,” takes it very seriously, especially when he wants it to be funny.

After roughly two years writing the lyrics for PLANETA GAYFOLK, a catalogue of 273 singles, he has published a blog post on one deceptively simple distinction: some choruses laugh at you, and some laugh with you. On paper the difference is tiny. In the ear it is enormous. Here are the seven lessons from that post, with a few notes on each.

1. Mockery needs distance, and distance wears thin

A chorus that laughs at someone puts the narrator and the listener outside the joke, pointing. That can work well for an ex who has earned it. The problem is repetition. A chorus comes back three or four times, and what was funny the first time starts to feel cruel by the fourth. “By the fourth round it looks like harassment,” Mike writes.

A chorus that laughs with you does the opposite. It pulls the listener inside the joke. You have done that too, you have said that too, and you know it. Every repeat lands like a friendly elbow in the ribs.

2. Ask who comes off worst

His test when he is unsure is to read the chorus out loud and ask one question: who looks bad here? If it is only someone else, he rewrites. If everybody looks a little silly, himself included, it usually works.

3. Put the title where the punchline goes

Mike almost always puts the song title in the chorus. He admits it is not an original rule; half of radio and half a century of pop follow it. In a funny song, though, the title becomes the punchline: the verse sets it up, the title hits. It is the shape of an old-fashioned joke, only with music and repeated.

That is why he cares how a title sounds said quickly. “Tan Cateto,” the song that went viral on TikTok in 2024 and introduced many people to his work, is four syllables that fit anywhere. A longer title, he says, forces you to build the chorus around it, like pitching a tent around a tree you cannot move.

4. One joke is enough

His most common early mistake, and one that still tempts him, was trying to make every line of the chorus funny. That exhausts people. Nobody can laugh four times in ten seconds, and if you try, they end up laughing at none of it. What works better is one comic idea with the rest almost neutral, even a bit serious. “Seriousness works like a cushion,” he explains. “The joke lands on something soft and bounces.”

5. Keep the rhymes plain

He has also learned to distrust rhymes that are too clever. A dazzling rhyme draws attention to itself, and in a chorus that is a distraction. He prefers simple, almost nursery-rhyme rhymes that leave the spotlight on the idea.

6. Let the music test the joke

Mike writes every lyric, and he produces the music with artificial intelligence tools that he directs; the vocal performance is AI-generated too. That process has a specific effect on choruses: he can hear several versions of the same words set to different melodies, and it becomes obvious very quickly whether a joke holds. Some lines that made him laugh on paper go flat with music. Others he barely noticed suddenly become funny once they sit on the right beat.

He calls it a lesson in humility. Written humour and sung humour are different animals. The second depends on rhythm, on which syllable falls on the strong beat, on a half-second pause before the key word. Often the real decision is not what to say but where to put it. He chooses, discards, tries again. Some choruses have gone through so many versions he no longer remembers the first one, “and maybe that’s for the best.”

7. Laugh at yourself, but keep a little dignity

His favourite chorus to write is the one that laughs at the narrator: look what I did, what a mess, and here I am telling you about it. He calls it self-defence humour. You beat the person who was about to laugh at you and leave them with no ammunition.

There is a limit. If you mock yourself all the time, you start to look like someone with no self-respect. So even in the most self-critical chorus, he tries to leave a trace of pride at the end. “Yes, I messed up. But look how well I tell it.” That mix of embarrassment and poise, he says, is the house signature.

Why Canadian listeners might care

Canada has a long, proud tradition of comedy built on self-deprecation, and of songwriters who treat lyrics as the main event. Mike’s work sits comfortably in that company, even if most of it is in Spanish. His songs also appear in English, French and Portuguese, which makes PLANETA GAYFOLK an easy entry point in a country that lives in more than one language. And every lyric is published, so anyone can follow the jokes word by word.

The photo that comes with this release, Mike with arms crossed in a greenhouse, fits the post: a place where things only grow if you keep trying.

Where to listen and download

All of Mike Sain't Louis’s music can be streamed and downloaded for free at https://mikesaintlouis.com, with the lyrics to every song. The original post is on his blog: https://mikesaintlouis.com/blog/como-se-escribe-un-estribillo-que-se-rie-de-ti-y-contigo. His catalogue is also on Spotify, Deezer and the major platforms. Instagram: @planetagayfolk.

About Mike Sain't Louis

Mike Sain't Louis is an alternative indie artist from Madrid and the self-described “first AI singer-songwriter.” He is the lyricist, composer, producer, art director and CEO of his own independent label, MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS, with no record company or middlemen involved. Music and vocals are generated with AI under his direction; the words are always his. His PLANETA GAYFOLK project spans 273 singles, more than 280 music videos and the GAYFOLK trilogy, a three-album journey to a planet where everyone can live as they are. His queer, uncensored, camp songs move from electropop to copla and cover love, exes, nosy neighbours, mental health and liberation.

Press contact

Email: info@mikesaintlouis.com Website: https://mikesaintlouis.com Instagram: @planetagayfolk