I Don't Write Breakup Songs to Wallow. I Write Them So a Whole Room Can Shout Back

MADRID — Oct. 25, 2026 — Mike Sain't Louis, the Madrid-based indie alternative artist who presents himself as "the first AI singer-songwriter," has spent roughly two years building PLANETA GAYFOLK: 273 singles and more than 280 music videos, all released on his own independent label. Heartbreak runs through a large part of that catalogue. In the guest column below, he explains why his breakup songs are built to be shouted rather than sobbed, using two very different tracks as his evidence.

A sad song can be a locked room

For a long time I thought the honest way to write about heartbreak was to write slowly. Minor chords, long pauses, a lyric that sits in the dark with you and agrees that everything is terrible. I still have songs like that, and I'm not ashamed of them.

But I noticed something. When I listened back to those songs in the worst weeks, they kept me exactly where I was. They were beautiful, and they were a locked room. I wanted something else: a song that opened the door and made me walk out of the room, even if I was still crying on the way out.

So I started writing heartbreak as chorus. Short lines. Repetition. Words you can learn the first time you hear them and shout the second time. That's what I mean by an anthem: not a big production, but a sentence that a whole room can throw back at you.

Seven words and a name

The clearest example in my catalogue is "Yo apoyo públicamente a Ylenia Padilla," which translates as "I publicly support Ylenia Padilla." The lyric is almost nothing. A narrator who understands Ylenia, who says he is Ylenia, who has also felt that everyone failed him and turned their back on him at the worst possible moment.

"Yo también soy Ylenia Padilla." I am Ylenia Padilla too.

That's the whole trick. I don't explain the betrayal. I don't list who did what. I take the loneliest feeling there is, the feeling that nobody is on your side, and I turn it into a declaration of loyalty that keeps going round and round: I defend her, I'm in favor of her, I'm like her, I support her publicly. By the end, the song has done what nobody did for the narrator. It has picked a side.

People sometimes laugh when they hear it, and I love that. A chant is always a little ridiculous. It still works.

Then you go dancing

The second song is "Pura magia," and it's written entirely in Portuguese. On paper it has nothing to do with heartbreak. It's a night out: lights shining across the city, a loud beat vibrating in the air, a moon guiding everyone through a sea of neon, a party that refuses to end. The chorus is an invitation to come and dance and become one with the crowd, on a night of pure magic.

I put it next to the Ylenia song on purpose, because for me they are two halves of the same recovery. First you need someone to say they believe you. Then you need a night where your body remembers it's allowed to have fun. Nobody gets over anything in a single step, and I don't think a single song should pretend you can.

Writing in Portuguese also gives me some distance. In Spanish, every word carries my whole history. In another language I can write a simpler, brighter sentence without it collapsing under the weight of what came before.

What the machine does and what I do

I should be clear about my method, because people ask. I write every lyric. The music and the vocal performance are generated with AI, which I use as a production and arrangement tool, and I direct it version by version until the sound serves the words. I don't sing. What's mine is the sentence, the idea and the decision about what goes out into the world.

That matters for heartbreak songs in particular. A tool can make anything sound euphoric. It can't know which seven words are worth repeating forty times. That choice comes from having lived the bad week.

There is also a serious reason behind all this. With professional support, I've been turning years of relationships with narcissistic partners into music. I do it so people who have been through psychological abuse feel seen and believed. Not every song is about that, but every anthem I write is, in some way, for that person standing alone at the worst moment.

Why American listeners might get it immediately

The United States practically invented the shout-along breakup song, from girl-group kiss-offs to arena choruses. You know the feeling of a lyric that sounds petty and turns out to be brave. My songs come from Madrid and mostly speak Spanish, with detours into English, French and Portuguese, but the instinct is the same. And for the many Spanish and Portuguese speakers across the country, nothing here needs translating at all.

"I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me," I often tell people. "I need a chorus. Pity keeps you in bed. A chorus gets you dressed."

The photo that goes with this column was taken on a windy coastline, wrapped up against the cold, looking away from the camera. That's roughly how heartbreak feels at the start. The songs are what happens when you finally turn around.

Listen and download for free

"Yo apoyo públicamente a Ylenia Padilla," "Pura magia" and the rest of the catalogue can be streamed and downloaded free of charge at https://mikesaintlouis.com, with the lyrics of every song. The music is also on Spotify, Deezer and other major platforms. In 2024 his song "Tan Cateto" went viral on TikTok, which is how many listeners first found him; the full archive is the place to keep going.

About Mike Sain't Louis

Mike Sain't Louis is a Madrid-based indie alternative artist and self-described "first AI singer-songwriter." He is the lyricist, composer, music producer, artistic director and CEO of MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS, an independent label with no record company and no intermediaries behind it. His project PLANETA GAYFOLK moves through electropop, copla, alternative pop and ballads, and is anchored by the GAYFOLK trilogy: "Descubierto un nuevo planeta llamado GAYFOLK," "Ojalá se pudiera viajar a GAYFOLK" and "El día de la liberación," a journey toward a planet where everyone can live as they are.

Media Contact

Mike Sain't Louis Email: info@mikesaintlouis.com Website: https://mikesaintlouis.com Instagram: @planetagayfolk