“Numbers Should Inform Me, Not Run Me”: Mike Sain't Louis on 3 a.m. Analytics, Silent Likes and Why He Keeps Releasing Songs Anyway

MADRID, October 25, 2026 — Ask an independent artist what time they last checked their streaming dashboard and the honest answer is often “too late at night.” Mike Sain't Louis, the alternative indie artist based in Madrid who introduces himself as “the first AI singer-songwriter,” has turned that habit into a subject. He writes every lyric himself and runs his own one-person label, MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS; the music and the vocal performance are generated with artificial intelligence, which he uses as a production and arrangement tool, choosing and discarding version after version. Over roughly two years he has built PLANETA GAYFOLK, a catalog of 273 singles and more than 280 music videos.

We spoke with him about metrics, self-esteem and two songs that circle the same question: who is actually listening?

The fridge at 3 a.m.

You've written about opening your analytics in the middle of the night. What does that look like?

“It's dark, the day is finished, and instead of sleeping I open the stats app. Not because I expect anything. It's like opening the fridge when you're not hungry — just in case. I already know the number hasn't moved. I look anyway. And depending on what I see, I either fall asleep calm or I lie there turning over something that wouldn't bother me for five minutes in daylight.”

Will you share the numbers?

“No, and they don't matter. Double them or cut them in half and the scene is exactly the same. The problem isn't the figure. It's who's in charge — the number or me.”

Is that a personal weakness?

“For a long time I thought so. Then I read a little about intermittent reinforcement, the idea from B. F. Skinner's work that a reward which arrives sometimes, without a pattern, keeps you coming back far more than one that arrives every time. That's a slot machine. And it's also a view counter: most of the time nothing, and then one day a jump. Understanding that didn't let me off the hook, but it made me feel less strange. I'm not broken. The design works.”

“It's just a button”

“El segundo exacto” opens by repeating the line people throw at you: that's artificial intelligence, you press a button and you're done.

“Exactly. The song starts with the voices I hear in the comments. What do you gain from it if it doesn't make you money, nobody cares about your emotions, on to the next thing. I put the insult at the front door so nobody has to say it twice.”

Then the lyric turns.

“It asks the only question I really care about:

¿Será que podrá la inteligencia artificial escoger el segundo exacto donde rompiste a llorar?

Can artificial intelligence choose the exact second you broke down crying? That's my job. The tool gives me options; I'm the one who knows where the crying goes, because I lived it.”

The last verse is very concrete: twenty WhatsApp statuses viewed, not one like, and a first anniversary on YouTube.

“That's the 3 a.m. feeling written down. Twenty people saw it — my boyfriend, his mother, my sister, my father-in-law, my ex — and nobody reacted. Ni un solo 'me gusta', ni tan solo un comentario. I wanted to laugh at it a little, because if I don't laugh I check the app again.”

A music video for one viewer

“Asqueroso coordinador” is the opposite case. It's addressed to a single person.

“It's a revenge song, and I say so in the first lines: this is my last music video, my revenge for cheating on me. I tell him he can watch it with two cups of coffee or wherever he likes. I honestly don't care, because all he does is lie.”

There's a running joke about the actor Paco León.

“The ex hated that I liked Paco León, so the song goes all in. I'd have been happy with Paco, I'd have wanted Carmina Barrios as a mother-in-law. It's camp, it's exaggerated on purpose. And at the end the narrator isn't dead in the mud where he was left. He's resurrected — and pretty angry.”

How does that connect to metrics?

“A song like that doesn't need a million views to work. It needed to exist. With the help of professionals I've been turning years of relationships with narcissistic partners into songs, so that people who've been through psychological abuse feel seen and believed. If one person recognizes themselves, the counter is irrelevant.”

What actually helps

So what has changed in practice?

“Small rules. Numbers in daylight, not in bed. A quiet week isn't a verdict on me. And a message from someone who says a song helped them weighs more than any graph.”

Why keep releasing so much?

“Because writing is what I do. It took me about two years to build this catalog, and the songs keep coming. The stats can tell me what's moving. They don't get to tell me whether to write.”

Why American listeners might care

Anyone in the United States who posts work online and refreshes a dashboard late at night will recognize the routine Mike describes. His songs are mostly in Spanish, with others in English, French and Portuguese, and the full lyrics are posted next to each track, so non-Spanish speakers can follow the jokes and the anger line by line. Many people first found him in 2024, when “Tan Cateto” went viral on TikTok.

Where to listen and download

The entire catalog — all 273 singles and the GAYFOLK trilogy (Descubierto un nuevo planeta llamado GAYFOLK, Ojalá se pudiera viajar a GAYFOLK and El día de la liberación, three albums conceived as one journey) — can be streamed and downloaded for free at https://mikesaintlouis.com, with lyrics for every song. His music is also on Spotify, Deezer and other major platforms. Instagram: @planetagayfolk.

About Mike Sain't Louis

Mike Sain't Louis is an alternative indie artist based in Madrid, Spain, and “the first AI singer-songwriter.” He is the lyricist, composer, music producer, art director and CEO of his independent label, MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS, with no record company or middlemen. His queer alternative pop moves from electropop to Spanish copla to ballads, with humor, camp and no censorship, and tackles love, exes, nosy neighbors, queer life in Spain, liberation and mental health.

Press contact

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