How To Write A Song With AI: The Thrilling, Frightening Simplicity of a New Creative Era

Please note the paid version of this podcast and essay offers a second experiment using AI to compose the lyrics and music, along with details of how I prompted the technology. Consider your paid subscription as an investment in an independent artist. Consider your Substack annual subscriptions as an index fund of art and scholarship where you support other human beings in creating words, music, and videos of value to you. I greatly appreciate your support!

Okay, this all started a few years ago, before any of us had heard of Chat GPT or would have been able to answer the question, “What is Generative AI, and how do you use it as an artist without destroying the industry of commercial art?”

It started during a gaming session with old friends while playing Destiny 2. We are all parents of children across a spectrum of ages. One of my buddy’s young sons grabbed his phone because the child wanted to play a game like his Daddy. My buddy was almost pleading with his child, “You’ve got your own phone. Leave my phone alone.”

I thought this was hysterical and would make a great jingle. So I went and wrote one:

You Got Your Own Phone (Version 1 - 2022)

(Music & Vocals by JB Minton)

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You've Got Your Own Phone Lyrics by JB Minton

You got your own phone
Leave my phone alone
You’re crazy if you think
you're gonna use my phone
little punk, little sucker, 
better go on home

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This song was designed to loop forever, and it’s a benign earworm at best. There is no real meaning to it.

Fast-forward to this week, when I became curious about how easy it is to make a song using AI with a conversational interface that prompts humans for creative directions. I’m sharing the journey results here with all subscribers, and I’ll dive deeper into how I did it and what I used for Paid Subscribers below the paywall.

I thought about this little jingle and wondered what I could do it with through these modern music-making tools.

So, I pasted in the lyrics I had and directed the application to create a song with two genres of music: Reggae and Stoner Rock. Here is what came out:

You Got Your Own Phone (Version 2 - 2024)

(Lyrics by JB Minton Music Created By A.I.)

I think this sounds pretty dope, but the lyrics are too sparse. This inspired me to revisit and expand.

The back-and-forth between human and machine has taken a unique direction for modern life, but it is still a story about the inspirations of life manifesting and emerging into art. What began as a funny impression of a moment in someone else’s life has now become an asset I can click play on and hear an expression created as the product of a machine hallucination guided by the prompting of a human artist. The expression returned could contain more beyond the initial prompt. And if the expression surprises the creator with delight, concern, or even fear, then is this not art of the highest magnitude?

Here are the new lyrics I wrote:

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Your Phone Lyrics by JB Minton

You've got your own phone
Leave my phone alone
You're crazy if you think you're gonna use my phone.
Little punk
Little sucker
Better go on home

Hey man, I wasn't looking at your phone
I was watching the kid carrying that stone
up that big ole' hill your mamma made them climb
She's a lemon
She's a lime
Better get on home and take it like a man

Take this phone
connected to a drone
in my head and my home.

We've got the same phone, same home
same way to get us there.
We've got the same space, same face 
to unlock this phone.

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This time, I wanted to see how the AI did with two different versions for the same prompt (would it create the same song?). I also shortened the song title to "Your Phone."

Your Phone (Version 1 - 2024)

Your Phone (Version 2 - 2024)

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Here’s the verdict on this technology: It’s incredible. And it’s scary as hell because it proves that the future of art belongs to those who control the prompting—owning the prompt means controlling the purpose and flow of the art. The artistry is now a known commodity. What were once feats of superhuman achievement are now patterns of tokens that can be manifested and applied to a clear prompt composed with deeply felt purpose and finely crafted detail.

When I graduated High School in the early 1990s, our technology was the Dewey Decimal System, the typewriter, and the telephone. As I wrap up my journey into the world of AI-driven songwriting, I can’t help but marvel at how far technology has come in my life, hell, in the past two years! What once required hours of creative struggle is now a process so effortless it's almost unsettling. Yet, within this ease lies a sobering truth: the magic of music isn’t just in the notes or lyrics but in the intent of the human touch, the emotional labor that breathes life into a melody.

While AI offers a fascinating and powerful tool, it also reminds us of the irreplaceable value of human creativity. I thought something my buddy said to his child was funny, so I took a moment to write it down. Later, I came back to it and expanded on the idea. I took action to put it into the music, then I took a different action and put it into technology. This is now the reality of modern art. Sanctimonious old-world artists can rage against the machine all they want, but my prediction is commercial artists of the near future won’t get paid unless they authenticate in to prompt and guide the art.

As we stand on the brink of this new era of humans wielding the simulated creativity of machines, perhaps the most significant challenge is not whether AI can write a good song but whether we can preserve the soul of music in a world where the line between human and machine grows ever thinner in an arc bending towards Singularity. In embracing these innovations, let's not lose sight of the reverence and respect we hold for the craft—after all, the true artistry lies not in how easy it is to create music but in the stories and emotions that only human beings can tell.

Want to know how I did it and how A.I. worked on a completely brand-new song, from the lyrics to the music?

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The song above was composed using the following AI software tools and methods… (Paid Subscribers Only From Here)