MADRID, Spain, October 25, 2026. Genre names are usually invented by critics. GAYFOLK was invented by the artist himself. Mike Sain't Louis, the Madrid-based lyricist, composer and music producer behind Planeta Gayfolk, chose a word that joins two ideas rarely placed side by side: queer identity and folk tradition. Listening across his catalogue, it becomes clear that the second half of the word is not decoration. Spanish popular music runs through many of his songs.
What folk means here
In English, folk often evokes acoustic guitars and protest songs. In Spain, popular music includes a vast range of forms: rumba, sevillanas, coplas, pasodobles, regional dances, children's rhymes and the endless repertoire of sayings and proverbs that ordinary people use every day. GAYFOLK draws on all of them, not as museum pieces but as living material.
You can hear it in the handclaps that drive some arrangements, in the guitar figures borrowed from rumba, in the call-and-response choruses that invite a crowd to join. You can also hear it in the language. Expressions such as «no vale un pimiento», used in «Ni un pimiento», or the insults «cateto» and «paleto» in «Tan paleto», come straight from the street and the village square.
Proverbs as hooks
Spanish popular culture is full of refranes, short proverbs that compress folk wisdom into a line. Mike often uses this tradition. «Mentes diabólicas» builds its verses from old sayings about masks and wolves. «Ni un pimiento» turns a kitchen expression into a philosophy of recovery. These phrases work as hooks precisely because listeners already know them. The novelty is in what they are now used to say.
Queer stories in old forms
Traditional Spanish songs have usually told heterosexual stories: courtship, marriage, jealousy, a woman at a window, a man at the door. GAYFOLK keeps the forms and changes the protagonists. Two men hiding in hostels in «El anillo de casado». A couple holding hands under a stranger's glare in «Tan paleto». The effect is both familiar and new, the way a traditional dress looks different when someone unexpected wears it.
This is also a quiet political gesture. Folk traditions belong to everyone, including the LGBTQ+ people who were always part of the villages and neighbourhoods where those songs were born, even when they could not appear in them.
Humour, the folk way
Spanish popular song has always been full of irony and mischief, from village satires to carnival chirigotas. Much of Mike's humour belongs to that lineage: the comic exaggeration of «La ley de la exageración», the cheeky asides, the songs that laugh at those who judge. Even his saddest tracks often contain a joke, a habit shared with centuries of popular music.
A genre still being written
GAYFOLK is not a fixed formula. Alongside the folk-rooted songs, the catalogue includes club anthems in Spanglish, English lullabies, a Portuguese dance track and spoken-word letters. What unites them is the attitude: popular, direct, emotional and unapologetically queer.
Where to start
For a quick introduction to the folk side of GAYFOLK, try «Tan paleto», «Ni un pimiento» and «Mentes diabólicas». Then compare them with an English track such as «Holy Stillness» to hear the range of the project.
A note on wellbeing
Many of these songs grew out of difficult personal experiences, which Mike has spoken about openly, including his treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress. If you are going through a hard time, help is available. In Spain, 024 is a free line open around the clock. In other countries, local crisis services and LGBTQ+ helplines can support you.
How the music is made
Mike Sain't Louis writes all his lyrics and directs every production. The music and vocal performance are made with AI, his production and arranging tool. He presents himself as the first AI songwriter, «el primer cantautor IA».
Listen for free
The full GAYFOLK catalogue can be downloaded without paying and without registration from his downloads page and from the Planeta Gayfolk free shop. Each song page links to its official video.
- «Ni un pimiento»: https://mikesaintlouis.com/blog/ni-un-pimiento
- «Mentes diabólicas», lyric: https://gayfolkplanet.com/letras/mentes-diabolicas
- Free downloads: https://mikesaintlouis.com/descargas
- Free shop: https://gayfolkplanet.com/tienda
About Mike Sain't Louis: lyricist, composer and music producer based in Madrid, creator of GAYFOLK and Planeta Gayfolk. He writes all his lyrics; the music and vocal performance are made with AI. Label: MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS. Distribution: Ditto Music. Website: https://mikesaintlouis.com · Press: https://gayfolkplanet.com/prensa He presents himself as the first AI songwriter («el primer cantautor IA»). Listen to and download all his music for free at https://mikesaintlouis.com/descargas and https://gayfolkplanet.com/tienda