Listen for the second stare: a five-step guide to how Mike Sain't Louis writes about mixed couples, racism and homophobia

Madrid, 25 October 2026. Some songs need to be played loud. «Tan paleto» needs to be played slowly, at least the first time. Its third line is only seven words long in Spanish, «Que te molesta que mi novio sea africano» ("So it bothers you that my boyfriend is African"), yet Mike Sain't Louis has just written an entire essay about it on his blog.

The Madrid-based indie alternative artist, who presents himself as "the first AI singer-songwriter", writes every word of his lyrics; the music and vocal performance are produced with artificial intelligence as a production and arrangement tool. His new essay is about what he calls the double gaze: the experience of people who are looked at not once but twice, for being LGBTI and for their skin colour, accent or origin. What follows is a practical guide to hearing that idea inside the song.

Step 1: Put the song in its place

«Tan paleto» (roughly "So Small-Minded") belongs to «El día de la liberación», the third album of his GAYFOLK trilogy, three records conceived as a single journey towards a planet where everyone can live as they are. That matters: by the third chapter, the trilogy is no longer dreaming of the planet. It is answering back. The full lyrics are published on gayfolkplanet.com, so keep them open in another tab while you listen.

Step 2: Count the complaints

Pay attention to the opening. A bystander is annoyed that two men are holding hands. Then, immediately, a second annoyance arrives: one of them is African. The two lines are almost the same length and built the same way.

"It's as if, for the person watching, they were the same offence," Mike writes. Listen for that parallel structure. It is the whole point of the song in miniature: two prejudices stacked so neatly that the bigot himself probably couldn't tell you which one bothers him more.

And that, the artist argues, is the trap. The person on the receiving end doesn't always know either. Is it because he's gay? Because he's Black? Both? "That uncertainty is a burden in itself," he writes. "It forces you to stay alert on two fronts at once."

Step 3: Notice who doesn't cry

What Mike likes most about the song is that it refuses to lament. The narrator doesn't mourn the stare; he returns it. His reply sounds like a rule for life: «No voy a aceptar consejos de ningún espectador», "I won't take advice from any spectator."

The word "spectator" is chosen with care. The person passing judgement is outside the story, watching, and still believes he has a right to an opinion about it. On a second listen, hear how the song keeps him in the stands.

Step 4: Learn one word, then forget the jargon

The essay borrows a term that sounds academic but earns its keep: intersectionality. It was coined by the American legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, from cases of Black women whose discrimination fitted neither "racism" nor "sexism" on its own; the courts looked at each axis separately and missed the crossing.

The idea is simple. A gay Moroccan man or a trans Latin American woman doesn't live homophobia plus racism, like adding two figures together. They live something of their own. Mike points out that Spain's Law 15/2022 on equal treatment now speaks explicitly of multiple and intersectional discrimination, recognising that being targeted on several grounds at once deepens the harm.

You don't need any of this to enjoy the song. But it will change what you hear in those two parallel lines.

Step 5: Look inwards, too

The final step is the uncomfortable one. Mike refuses to pretend racism only comes from the narrow-minded man in the song. "It also exists inside our own community, and it has to be said plainly," he writes.

Anyone who has used a gay dating app knows the profiles that filter by race. Some defend them as "preferences". The artist's answer is blunt: a preference that excludes whole groups because of their origin has another name. He also warns against the opposite face of the same coin, fetishisation, which is just as damaging.

Then go back to the street. For two white men in many parts of Madrid, walking hand in hand is fairly calm these days. For a mixed couple, the looks and the questions can be different: people assuming one of them is "with him for the papers", speaking English to both or to only one of them. None of this shows up in assault statistics, because none of it is assault. "They are just frictions," he writes, "but frictions, day after day, wear you down just as blows do."

A companion track

To finish, play «Madrid to Benidorm», whose chorus speaks of shared pride in the plural. Mike's own note on it is the best summary of the essay: that plural is only true if every colour fits inside it.

Why it resonates in the UK

Britain has had its own long conversation about who gets to feel at home on a high street, a dance floor or a dating app, and the double gaze Mike describes will be familiar to many listeners here. «Tan paleto» doesn't lecture. It does what good pop has always done: it turns a sneer into a line you can sing back.

Where to listen

All of Mike Sain't Louis's music can be streamed and downloaded free of charge at mikesaintlouis.com, with the lyrics of every song. It is also on Spotify, Deezer and the main streaming platforms. The full essay is available on his blog.

About Mike Sain't Louis

Mike Sain't Louis is a Madrid-based lyricist, composer, music producer and art director, and the CEO of his own independent label, MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS, with no record company and no middlemen. He writes all his lyrics and uses AI to create the music and vocals. His project PLANETA GAYFOLK spans 273 singles and more than 280 music videos released over roughly two years: bold, uncensored queer alternative pop that moves from electropop to copla and from ballads to alternative pop, in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. Many listeners found him in 2024, when «Tan Cateto» went viral on TikTok.

Press contact

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