Take Off the Mask, Then Press Play: A Listener's Guide to Identity in the Songs of Mike Sain't Louis

MADRID, 25 October 2026 — Masks turn up everywhere in the catalogue of Mike Sain't Louis: false smiles, borrowed faces, people who perform a version of themselves until the performance cracks. The Madrid indie alternative artist, who calls himself "the first AI singer-songwriter", has released 273 singles and more than 280 music videos in about two years under the name PLANETA GAYFOLK, and a surprising number of them ask the same question from different angles. Who are you when nobody needs you to pretend?

This guide is for UK listeners who want a way in. It needs no prior knowledge, no subscription and no money: every track mentioned can be downloaded free from mikesaintlouis.com, each with its lyric. You need a pair of headphones, around forty minutes and, ideally, a translation app open for the Spanish.

Before you start: how the songs are made

Knowing the method changes what you hear, so here it is. Mike writes every lyric himself. The music and the vocal performance are produced with artificial intelligence, using Suno as a production and arrangement tool, and he directs the result version by version until one fits the words. He is also the producer, art director and head of his own label. When you listen for identity in these songs, you are listening to his lyrics and his choices. The voice you hear is generated; the person behind the mask is the writer.

That split is itself part of the theme. An AI singer-songwriter is, almost by definition, an artist who has to explain where he ends and the tool begins.

Session one: the manifesto, read before you listen

Start with "Outsider radical", and start by reading. The text Mike published alongside it is a short manifesto about making art with AI. He writes that people have told him many times that what he does doesn't count, that a machine makes it — yet nobody says the same about a painter's brush or a musician's synthesiser. Then comes the line that unlocks the whole guide: he does not use AI to hide, he uses it to reveal himself.

"Everyone assumes the technology is a mask I put on," he says. "For me it worked the other way round. It was the first thing that let me show my face without asking permission from anyone."

The manifesto lists what every image, note and verse of the project grew from: loss, emotional abuse, anger, beauty, madness and hope. Read that list, then play the track, and listen for the outsider of the title as someone claiming a place rather than begging for one. The text ends by welcoming you to GAYFOLK, a place where the emotion stays human even if the brush is digital.

Session two: the light that comes after

Now switch mood entirely. "The Northern Lights" is written in English and, in Mike's own description, moves like a slow exhale on a reggae heartbeat glowing in the dark. It is about peace, connection and a quiet joy that only appears, he says, when you stop pretending and let your own light rise.

Listen for the pace rather than the words at first. Where much of his catalogue is loud, camp and quick to the punchline, this one drifts, softly, like smoke. It is the moment after the mask comes off, when there is nothing left to defend. Mike dedicates it to those who dance with the night and light up their own skies when the world turns grey.

"I write a lot of songs about the people who lied to me," he says. "This one is about what's left when you stop lying to yourself. It's much quieter than revenge. I like it better."

Session three: the mask from the outside

For contrast, add a track that looks at masks from the other side. In "Extravaganza", a Spanish-language song from the same catalogue, the narrator watches someone who is always offending and always smiling, slowly showing "la careta" — the mask — until the chorus names it: "¡qué sonrisa más falsa!", what a fake smile. Played after the first two sessions, it shows the whole arc: the fake face, the refusal to wear one, and the calm on the far side.

Session four: go looking for mirrors yourself

The last session is yours. Open the song list at mikesaintlouis.com, scroll the titles and follow anything that hints at reflection, disguise or double lives. The fun of a catalogue this size is that the theme keeps resurfacing, sometimes as a ballad, sometimes as electropop, sometimes as a joke aimed squarely at an ex.

Why this works for British ears

Britain has a long tradition of pop that treats identity as performance and performance as a way of telling the truth, from glam to club culture to the drag stage. Mike's songs sit comfortably in that conversation, even when they arrive in Spanish, because the question underneath them is universal. The tracks in English, like "The Northern Lights", are an easy first door; the Spanish ones reward anyone willing to read along.

Where to listen and download

Every song is free to stream and download at https://mikesaintlouis.com, with the full lyric beside it. The catalogue is also on Spotify, Deezer and other major platforms. The project's spine is the GAYFOLK trilogy — "Descubierto un nuevo planeta llamado GAYFOLK", "Ojalá se pudiera viajar a GAYFOLK" and "El día de la liberación" — a journey towards a planet where everyone can live as they are.

About Mike Sain't Louis

Based in Madrid, Mike Sain't Louis is an indie alternative artist who writes, composes and produces his own work and runs his own independent label, MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS, with no record company or intermediaries. His queer, uncensored songs swing between electropop, copla, alternative pop and ballads, mostly in Spanish but also in English, French and Portuguese, and cover love, heartbreak, ex-boyfriends, nosy neighbours, liberation and mental health. "Tan Cateto" went viral on TikTok in 2024. With professional help, he turns past relationships with narcissistic partners into music, so that people who have lived through psychological abuse feel seen and believed.

Press contact

Mike Sain't Louis — MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS (independent label) Email: info@mikesaintlouis.com Web: https://mikesaintlouis.com Instagram: @planetagayfolk