Made With AI?
The problem with AI is that it generates lyrics using the same cliche form or song elements--whereas human creativity can be anything. Typically songs begin with some kind of fragment, a title, a line, a couplet, or something rhythmic coming in the form of nonsense or placeholder words.
As with anything we use AI for we have to ask good questions.
The query: Write lyrics for a song titled, Dying To Connect.
The chorus:
A million friends, yet empty rooms
Emoji smiles, concealing our gloom
We're screaming silently, a silent disconnect
Yearning for a touch, a love to resurrect
When I rephrased the query to "Write lyrics to a song titled, 'Dying To Connect' in the voice of David Bowie", this is the result:
Oh, we're dying to connect, my dear
In this wired realm, the truth isn't clear
A stardust symphony, a longing to reflect
Oh, can't you see we're dying to connect?
It's "Bowie" in the sense that the cliche word "stardust" is used, but even as raw data, it's very stupid.
The version made with AI:
This is my human version, albeit only instrumental at the moment because I haven't done a vocal. But what is interesting is that the music, even if it doesn't have a vocal, is driven by the music in the language.
The finished track:
ChatGPT does have some degree of rhythmicity that one could work from, but I wonder why a young songwriter would want to use it in the first place. You're not really a songwriter if you don't have ideas. Ordering from a menu is not creativity. Placing an order like you would order something for lunch is not in the cognitive arena of "songwriting".
On the harmonic element: My version involved a pre-existing set of chord changes and the words were draped around it.
Starting with the generated lyrics, at least in first attempt, generated chords and rhythms as cliche as the generated lyrics. So the cliches are generative as well and will inevitably get caught in a feedback loop when it's re-ingested. So David Bowie stylings will have the top level words in it like "Stardust", "Ziggy", but what about "mousey hair" or "trendy rechauffe".
AI results are very "left-brained" and linear, and "disconnected" in a holistic sense. While randomized rules can result in interesting permutations you still have to sort through them to see what's usable in terms of your wider vision.
The nature of creativity is that it is a chain of events that is "fractal" in nature. In this example, your own words could be mapped over the rhythm that was generated by the AI words. Creativity always leaves "exhaust" or residue that you can work with, and you can discard the original scaffolding. But it begs the question whether you can make your own scaffolding. It's more fun and satisfying actually.
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