I just want to say right up front… I’m not going to suggest that you use AI to write a song lyric. Period. Why on earth would you want to miss out on expressing yourself through your own creative process? It’s your thoughts and feelings that make a song meaningful and worth writing.
But I am curious to know if AI can be a useful tool. Maybe it can help us pick up our writing speed or reach listeners more effectively. So, I figure it’s worth checking out. Besides, I want to see what everyone is talking about.
The two top sites for now are Lyric Studio and ChatGPT, so that’s where I went.
LYRIC STUDIO
LyricStudio.net
The free version requires you to sign up and log in. There is a subscription version.
Lyric Studio calls itself a “songwriting inspiration engine.” I think that’s a good way to think of AI. Maybe it can provide some inspiration for a new lyric.
They’re not promising it will write hit songs, thank you. But just reading over the home page hinted at what the problems might be. I saw plenty of clichés and language that lacked an authentic, conversational quality.
Using Lyric Studio
To get started, they offer a list of genres. I notice they don’t have acoustic styles like Folk, Americana, or Singer-Songwriter. I chose Pop thinking I might find something useful for a Pop/Singer-Songwriter lyric, something like Lewis Capaldi’s hit song “Before You Go.”
Next, they ask what your song is about. You can type in your answer or choose from a list. The list consists of a mix of emotions and themes. I chose “regret” and “hurt” from their list. That’s what Capaldi’s song is about.
Starting your lyric with with a genre and a thematic idea or emotion is a good idea. So that was a plus for the site.
As soon as I chose my options, Lyric Studio automatically created a list of individual lines to launch my first verse.
On this site, you build your lyric one line at a time. After I chose my first line, they offered a list of second lines. You can refresh the list of lines to get more options. Here’s what I came up with for the first verse of a song they titled “I Will Not Forget You.’
1st LINE: I want to forget, but the hurt keeps on reminding me
2nd LINE I’m drowning in sorrow, regretting the love that we lost
3rd LINE: You cannot see the signs you cannot see
4th LINE:
Option A: Why did I let go, now my heart pays the cost
Option B: I wish I could rewind, reverse the pain and cost
The pros and cons
Frankly, this lyric is not very good. Each line is a stand-alone statement that doesn’t seem to lead to the next. That said, the lines are consistent with the theme and emotions I indicated. I chose each line according to what I thought would work best. But no matter what I did, I ended up with something that didn’t sound like a person expressing emotion in an authentic way. Assembling a lyric line-by-line creates a choppy feel, lacking the natural flow of thought.
Could I get unstuck using one of these lines?
Yes, I think so. If I couldn’t come up with something to say in my second verse, I might get an idea from “you cannot see the signs you cannot see.” Verse 2 could be about missing the signs that were there. Or “I wish I could rewind” might suggest a verse about wanting to go back and do it over.
Could I start a song with one of these lines?
I think I could probably use one of these lines to start a verse or chorus. Starting with Lyric Studio’s first line…
I want to forget, but the hurt keeps reminding me
My hollow heart beats like a drum in the night
Waking me up
From dreams of us
When I knew what to say to make things alright
Okay, I started with their line and added my own to create a verse. I might be able to do something similar to start a chorus. But this site seems very limited. Out of curiosity, I tried changing the genre from Pop to R&B and I got different lines with more of an edgy attitude. The suggestions for the Country genre with emotions “miss you” and “lonely” were terrible.
Drivin’ down these endless roads, I’m lonely without you
Sittin’ in this empty bar, I’m drowning in the blues
Get me outta here!
ChatGPT
ChatGPT.openai.com
ChatGPT is free. You do have to sign up and log in.
This site is easy to use and it’s free. You can upgrade, but the free version has enough juice to get things going. Not sure what the upgrade gets you.
Look for the “Send a message” box where you can type in your instructions. I typed: “Write a lyric like Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Before You Go’.” I didn’t give any additional information. ChatGPT created a complete lyric, including pre-chorus and bridge. Here are the first verse, pre-chorus, and chorus.
(Verse 1)
In the silence of the night, I’m lost and all alone,
Shadows dancing ’round the room, the pain I can’t disown.
I hear your laughter in the breeze, it echoes in my mind,
But now you’re gone, and all I’ve got are memories to find.
(Pre-Chorus)
I trace the lines of photographs, the smiles we used to share,
Trying to escape the truth, pretending you’re still there.
The silence grows much louder, as I search for your embrace,
I’d give it all to turn back time, to that familiar place.
(Chorus)
Before you left, before goodbye,
I wish I could’ve held you, stopped the tears you cried.
The echoes of your laughter haunt me to the core,
Oh, how I long to hear your voice just once more.
The Pros and Cons
The song structure is the same as the structure of the Lewis Capaldi hit. The emotions in the Capaldi song are hurt and regret, which is what ChatGPT gave me. The similarities end there, which is good since I don’t want to rip off the original hit song.
Greeting Card syndrome
On the down side, the rhymes are predictable and the lyric reads like a Sympathy card you can buy at any drugstore, filled with clichés, awkward phrases, and familiar rhymes. But at least the thoughts flow from one line to the next in a way that a human might actually think.
Another drawback, the lines in every section feature the same rhythmical beat—ta DA ta DA ta DA ta DA, etc. (Read the lyric out loud and you’ll hear it.) Today’s melodies tend to feature different melodic rhythm patterns in each section to create contrast and keep listeners interested. The monotonous rhythm pattern of this lyric would put listeners to sleep in an instant.
Not a good fit for contemporary melodies
Current melodies in all genres also feature patterns of long and short phrases that vary from verse to pre-chorus to chorus. The ChatGPT lines are almost all the same length. You might be able to break up some of the longer lines into short phrases that rhyme, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope for that working.
To see the difference, do a quick internet search for the Lewis Capaldi song lyric “Before You Go.” You can easily see the change in line lengths. My Song Guide to “Before You Go” will take you deeper into the lyric and melody of this beautiful hit song.
Could I get unstuck using one of these lines?
There are a lot of lines to choose from so, yes, I can find plenty of suggestions to keep a lyric going. Phrases like “pretending you’re still there” or “turn back time to a familiar place” suggest places to go in Verse 2.
There are also plenty of individual words and phrases with emotional associations that might be useful for sparking a line or thought: silence grows louder, shadow, echo, escape, pretend, etc.
Could I start a song with any of these lines?
When I clicked on the “Regenerate” button, I was given a completely new lyric with the same emotional tone and theme. Here I found a line that caught my attention: “All that’s left are shades of gray.” I felt I could use “All That’s Left” or “Shades of Gray” as a title and write a singer-songwriter style song around that phrase. Might work.
CAN YOU COPYRIGHT AN AI LYRIC?
One of the drawbacks of using AI for writing lyrics is copyrighting them. In the field of AI-generated lyrics, copyright is still murky. The U.S. Copyright Office has stated that a work completely generated by AI cannot be copyrighted. However, they have also said that if there is a substantial human contribution, for example if you select some AI lines, rearrange phrases and words, or add your own lines in a creative way you should be able to copyright your lyric.
In other words, I could copyright the verse I wrote based on a first line generated by Lyric Studio. But I couldn’t copyright the whole verse, pre-chorus, and chorus generated by ChatGPT that I included above.
There’s still work to be done around this issue—what does “substantial human contribution” mean exactly? But if you’re using AI in a creative way, as a springboard from which to launch your own ideas, then you should be able to copyright your lyric. (I’m not an attorney and this is not legal advice, just a feeling.)
OTHER SITES THAT OFFER AI FOR WRITING LYRICS?
I did a Google search for “AI lyrics” and found a few other sites. They were far worse than the two I included here. AI hasn’t developed to the point where it can take the place of your inspiration or your unique way with words. Hopefully, it never will. Keep using your experience, knowledge, talent, and emotions to take your songs as far as you want them to go. A computer will never get as much joy from writing a song as you will!