Sun cream, sequins and a serious point: Mike Sain't Louis writes an English-language Pride anthem that refuses to whisper

Madrid, 25 October 2026 – Say the word ‘Benidorm’ to a British audience and you will usually get a grin. The Costa Blanca resort has been a punchline, a sitcom setting and a rite of passage for decades of holidaymakers. So when Mike Sain't Louis puts it in the title of a Pride anthem, alongside the Spanish capital, the joke is half-written already. What is surprising is how straight-faced the song itself is. ‘Madrid to Benidorm’ is funny in its premise and entirely sincere in its words – and that combination is the clearest way into the work of an artist who has made humour and truth his double act.

Mike Sain't Louis is an indie alternative artist based in Madrid who presents himself as ‘the first AI singer-songwriter’. He writes every lyric himself and works as composer, music producer, artistic director and CEO of his own independent label, MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS. There is no record company behind him and no middlemen. The music and vocal performances are generated with artificial intelligence, which he uses as a production and arranging tool; the words, ideas and artistic direction are his. Over roughly two years of work, he has built PLANETA GAYFOLK: 273 singles and more than 280 music videos.

A postcard with a message on the back

‘Madrid to Benidorm’ is one of the songs Mike Sain't Louis wrote in English. It opens in ‘the vibrant streets of Spain, where the spirit can't be tamed’, with Madrid's heart beating loud and a crowd that is ‘here to stay’. From there it moves through alleys and sunshine to the coast, where the shout is sent out ‘with love’ from Benidorm. The geography is a gift to anyone who knows Spain: the capital, with its big Pride celebrations, and the seaside town that has built a reputation for welcoming everyone who turns up in a pair of flip-flops.

The chorus spells out the idea without irony:

Let's dance under the rainbow, Madrid to Benidorm, With pride in our voices, through every storm.

It is the kind of line that could appear on a banner. And that is the point. Mike Sain't Louis is best known for a sharp, uncensored, often outrageous sense of humour. Here he chooses the opposite register: plain, warm, almost old-fashioned in its directness.

‘People expect me to make a joke about Benidorm,’ he says. ‘The joke is that I didn't. Everybody thinks of it as a place for stag dos and sunburn. For a lot of queer people it's also a place where they held hands in public for the first time. That's not funny. That's huge.’

Where the humour lives

If the lyric is earnest, where is the humour? Partly in the framing. Pairing Madrid, the political and cultural capital, with a resort that many people still associate with high-rise hotels and late-night karaoke is a deliberately camp gesture. It says that Pride does not only belong to grand avenues and official speeches; it also belongs to beach bars, promenades and the kind of places that serious culture tends to look down on.

Camp, after all, has always been a way of telling the truth with a raised eyebrow. Mike Sain't Louis's catalogue is full of it: songs about ex-boyfriends, nosy neighbours, heartbreak and queer life in Spain, often explicit and always unapologetic. Many listeners discovered him in 2024, when ‘Tan Cateto’ went viral on TikTok. ‘Madrid to Benidorm’ keeps the camp in the setting and lets the words speak plainly.

There is also a quiet joke in the very act of writing it in English. Here is a Madrid artist sending a Pride greeting ‘from España’ to ‘everyone who hears’, in the language of so many of the tourists who fill Benidorm's promenade every summer. It reads almost like a postcard written for the visitors rather than the locals: wish you were here, and by the way, love wins. The gesture is generous, a little cheeky, and very much in keeping with an artist whose audience stretches across Europe and Latin America.

Where the truth lives

The truth is in the details. One verse speaks of every colour and every hue, ‘together strong, and fiercely true’. Another talks of paving the way ‘for brighter nights and braver days’. And the final verse contains the line that gives the whole song its weight: a promise to stand united ‘for every heart that's been denied’.

That phrase connects ‘Madrid to Benidorm’ to a purpose Mike Sain't Louis has spoken about publicly. With professional support, he turns years of relationships with narcissistic partners into music, to make narcissistic and psychological abuse visible, to show its effects on mental health, and to help those who live through it feel seen and believed. A Pride anthem might seem a long way from that. But being denied – denied love, denied respect, denied the right to be yourself – is the common thread.

‘Pride for me isn't a party first,’ he says. ‘It's the moment you stop apologising. The party comes after, and it should be a big one, preferably by the sea.’

The words are his; the instrument is AI

Mike Sain't Louis is precise about what ‘the first AI singer-songwriter’ means. He does not sing. The voice and the music are generated with artificial intelligence, which he treats as an instrument – a band that is always available. What the technology does not do is write. Every line of ‘Madrid to Benidorm’, as with the rest of his catalogue, is his.

This approach has allowed him to build an unusually large body of work without a label, over around two years of steady effort: 273 singles, more than 280 music videos, and a stylistic range that runs from electropop to copla, the Spanish popular song tradition, and from alternative pop to the ballad. He writes mostly in Spanish, but also in English, French and Portuguese, which makes songs like this one an easy door for listeners outside Spain.

‘I'm not hiding the AI and I'm not hiding behind it,’ he says. ‘It plays the music. I tell it what the music is for.’

Why it might land in the UK

British audiences know Spain from the sun lounger as much as from the city break. Benidorm in particular occupies a curious place in the national imagination: mocked and loved in equal measure, a symbol of a certain kind of holiday that is unpretentious, loud and inclusive almost by accident. A Pride song that takes that place seriously, in English, has a built-in point of recognition.

At the same time, the UK has a long tradition of queer pop that mixes glitter and conviction, songs that fill dance floors while saying something that matters. ‘Madrid to Benidorm’ sits comfortably in that lineage. It is not complicated, and it does not try to be. For listeners interested in independent queer music from continental Europe – made outside the major-label system and openly built with AI as a tool – Mike Sain't Louis offers a distinctive and accessible starting point.

The photograph accompanying this release is a studio portrait against a dark background. There is no beach, no rainbow flag, no promenade – just the artist. It is a reminder that behind a song about crowds and colour there is one person who wrote it, word by word.

Part of a bigger journey

All of Mike Sain't Louis's work is organised around the GAYFOLK trilogy: three albums conceived as one journey – ‘Descubierto un nuevo planeta llamado GAYFOLK’ (‘A New Planet Called GAYFOLK Discovered’), ‘Ojalá se pudiera viajar a GAYFOLK’ (‘If Only We Could Travel to GAYFOLK’) and ‘El día de la liberación’ (‘Liberation Day’). The destination is a planet where everyone can live exactly as they are. ‘Madrid to Benidorm’ feels like a rehearsal for that arrival, staged on Earth, with sun cream.

Listen and download for free

‘Madrid to Benidorm’ and Mike Sain't Louis's entire catalogue can be streamed and downloaded free of charge at https://mikesaintlouis.com, where every song is published with its full lyrics. There is nothing to pay. His music is also available on Spotify, Deezer and the main streaming platforms, and the visual world of PLANETA GAYFOLK can be followed on Instagram at @planetagayfolk.

About Mike Sain't Louis

Madrid-based Mike Sain't Louis is an indie alternative artist who calls himself ‘the first AI singer-songwriter’. He writes all of his own lyrics and runs his project as composer, music producer, artistic director and CEO of the independent label MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS, with artificial intelligence as his instrument for music and vocals. His PLANETA GAYFOLK project brings together 273 singles and more than 280 music videos made over about two years, anchored by the GAYFOLK trilogy. Queer, camp and candid, his songs move between laughter and hard truths about love, liberation and mental health.

Press contact

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