Music, According to ChatGPT

This piece originally appeared on March 28, 2024 in Sound Signal, our biweekly newsletter that identifies emerging artists, scenes, and trending tracks, crafted by the world's best writers and curators. Sign up here to never miss our take on what's next in music.

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Since its July 2023 launch, the buzz around Suno has grown among tech heads, social media users, and songwriters alike. An emerging AI music generator that produces professional-grade songs, Suno uses its own AI models to create the music and relies on Open AI’s ChatGPT to create original lyrics and song titles. A free account on the platform’s website can generate a unique song in less than a minute.

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Eclectic and shockingly realistic, song creations from the ChatGPT-based tool teeter between being deeply inspired to downright comical. Suno’s top trending creation, “bean soup” is a hilarious interpretation of, well, a bean soup recipe. At 1320 likes on Suno, the nearly three-minute song finds an electronic male voice singing the dish’s ingredients and measurements over a gaudy ‘00s metal rock production that sounds like it was written for a Saturday Night Live sketch. Another trending creation, “You’re destroying me” (869 likes) aims at social media’s instant-gratifying culture. The southern R&B-flavored song features a female-generated voice soulfully singing her social media ills with the pain of a heartbroken lover, complete with background vocals and verse-chorus structure. 

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But the most unbelievable Suno creation of all has come from Rolling Stone, which recently published a highly detailed feature story on the rise of Suno and the company’s vision behind it. When Rolling Stone writer Brian Hiatt requested a “solo acoustic Mississippi Delta blues about a sad AI” on Suno, the result was a brooding 1-minute Delta blues track, “Soul of the Machine,” evoking a vintage Robert Johnson recording from the 1930s based around a hopeless AI. After the track was shared on Soundcloud, many commentators were shocked by how authentic its music sounded and wondered how generative AI music tools like Suno would factor into a traditional songcraft process. 

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No matter what side of the fence people are on about emerging AI technologies, the rise of AI music generators is sparking curiosity about the future of music-making on all fronts. Suno is blurring the lines between language, culture, genre, and music creation by enabling people to execute ideas without actual skill.

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If you’re aiming to uncover emerging artists, grasp key cultural shifts, or gain actionable insights from data-driven research, Third Bridge Creative delivers the expertise you need. Connect with our Music Intelligence team today to learn how we can help your organization navigate the cultural zeitgeist with precision and impact.