Bops by a bot, coming soon to your earbuds
AI-generated songs are fascinating and more than a little frightening
This post is part of a feature called Random Topic Tuesday, which explores other topics that might or might not be sports-related or sports-adjacent. Because they are, you know, random.
Last week I sat in a waiting room before a visit to an oral surgeon. Not my idea of a good time, but so it goes. A fine facility but for one thing – the waiting room lobby music was way too loud. I don’t know, maybe to hide the screams.
Because of the volume, there was no ignoring the music, which was country pop. Bro-country. I was early enough for my appointment to notice that each of the three songs featured a pickup truck, and two mentioned drinking beer. I know that’s a cliché about this genre of music but boy, there it was. Amazingly, I did not notice any lyrics about a girl in tight jeans.
I thought maybe when I got home, I’d see how long it would take me to bang out a song about beer, blue jeans and pickup trucks. And when I got home, I had a better idea: Ask ChatGPT.
This coincides with a kerfuffle surrounding NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month, a popular write-a-novel-in-a-month program. The nonprofit organization came out with a statement that didn’t exactly discourage using artificial intelligence to write a novel in a month, and the writers of the world went bonkers.
As for the songs that the bot – let’s call him Al – wrote for me, it is kind of scary. I’ve played around with ChatGPT before with meh results but the country song it spit out for me is almost … good. Or at least it fits its genre nicely. And done within seconds. I say “songs” here because once Al spit one out for me, I just kept going. And like so many things that are scary, I have to admit it was also a little fun.
All songs on here were written by ChatGPT with my prompts, but mostly shortened for this post. Al and I will see you at the Grammys.
Me to ChatGPT: Write me a country song about beer, blue jeans and pickup trucks.
ChatGPT: Here's a country song that captures those classic themes:
That wasn’t bad, so I thought I’d try another genre. Sort of a pop-ish tune about a girl who just got dumped. I asked specifically for a “girl” not a “woman” in hopes of getting more of a bop. Maybe a Taylor’s Version of … something. It was, after all, kind of long. So this is edited, which I guess makes it Jane’s Version.
Me to ChatGPT: Write a pop song about a girl who is mad that her boyfriend dumped her.
Then I thought maybe we should get a little deeper.
Me to ChatGPT: Write me an indie folk song that is inspired by great philosophers.
ChatGPT: Feel free to adjust or add any parts to better suit the feel you're looking for!
I just might, Al. Somehow you couldn’t manage to get Confucius in there.
OK, that was too deep and depressing. Let’s switch gears. I thought maybe I could get some Lizzo-inspired thing and have a little more fun.
Me to ChatGPT: Write me a hiphop song about hanging with my girlfriends in Minneapolis.
ChatGPT: Feel free to add personal touches or tweak any lyrics to better capture your own experiences and energy!
Yeah, maybe talking about setting Minneapolis on fire isn’t such a good idea, Al.
Then I thought maybe I should get a little closer to home.
Me to ChatGPT: Write a folk song about the beauty of Iowa.
Dreck. Simply dreck. I’ll spare you the rest. This was a definite miss by Al.
OK, I guess I should have been a little more specific, maybe talk about a neighborhood that has its own particular character. I don’t live in Beaverdale, but Des Moines people know it has its own look. Al did OK, though the title could use some work.
Me to ChatGPT: Can you write a funny song about living in the Des Moines neighborhood of Beaverdale?
Thanks, Al. Now I really miss the little brick house I used to have on 44th Street.
Finally, the true test. I told a fellow music geek and editor friend I was doing this and he said, “Have it write a love song about a turtle and a rock.” A ridiculous notion indeed, but Al came through. Except he still could use some help with titles.
Me to ChatGPT: Can you write a song about a turtle in love with a rock?
ChatGPT: I hope you like this sweet little love song about the turtle and their rock!
I do, Al, I do.
What does this all mean? Who knows. As a writer, it’s frightening to see my craft so easily spit out by a machine. There is indeed a wonder to it, though, like when we all discovered this thing called the internet and then this thing called Google. I don’t think the technology portends a lot of good things for creatives, but if it gets too out of control I’ll just go hide under a rock somewhere. If it’s OK with the turtle, that is.
All songs copyright 2024, Jane Burns and Al.
Jane Burns is a former sports and features writer for the Des Moines Register, as well as other publications and websites. She’s a past winner of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Mel Greenberg Award for her coverage of women’s basketball. Over the course of her career she’s covered pretty much everything, which is why her as-yet-to-be-written memoir will be called “Cheese and Basketball: Stories From a Reporter Who Has Covered Everything.”
I’m happy to join fellow Iowa writers and journalists as part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. The collaborative is 60 writers throughout the state - likely some familiar names to Iowa readers - publishing on topics ranging from politics to food to sports and so much more. A subscription (paid or free) gets you a Sunday roundup of all the writers’ work that week. One of my colleagues described it as “Iowa’s Sunday newspaper.”
Meet the writers here, and see for yourself the great variety the collaborative offers.
I’ve heard worse Bro Country songs than Al’s!
I didn’t think Wisdom in the Wind was depressing but reading it was like having a conversation with an inveterate name-dropper. It could be used as the Cliff Notes version of Philosophy 101.
I, too, thought the Minneapolis on fire was too much.