Field notes
How to write song lyrics for AIs
Music models do not “feel” a chorus. They pattern-match structure, vowel shape, repetition, and a dense style line. This desk is the brief you hand them — and the place you draft the words yourself.
1. Lead with a style line, not a vibe paragraph
One packed sentence beats a mood board. Order it: genre → era → vocal character → core instruments → tempo/feel → room. Models weight early tokens more, so put the sound first and the plot second.
Style: late-night neo-soul, 1974, warm alto close-mic, Rhodes and muted trumpet, 82 BPM brushed drums, small club, tape saturation [Verse] The laundromat clock stuck on quarter to two… [Chorus] I fold the same shirt twice and call it leaving…
Keep the style line under ~40 words. Extra adjectives after that start to cancel each other.
2. Label sections the way a session chart would
Bracketed headers are the steering wheel. Use them consistently, on their own lines:
Number repeats only when the lyric actually changes. If Chorus 2 is the same words, write [Chorus] again — identical text teaches the model the hook is the hook.
Cue doubles in parentheses on the line they belong to: come home (come home), (ooh, hold it). Do not hide performance notes inside the poetry.
3. Write for the mouth, not the page
AIs will sing whatever you type, including unsingable clumps. Prefer open vowels on held notes — oh, ah, ay, oo — and put closed consonants on shorter syllables. Count stresses, not just syllables: a chorus that lands on 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 will lock to a beat; a chorus of 15-syllable clauses will smear.
- Title lives in the chorus, usually on a long note.
- Verses can be talkier; the chorus should be chantable after one listen.
- Keep line lengths in a section within ~3 syllables of each other.
- Internal rhyme helps hop-hop and drill; end-rhyme helps folk and Motown.
4. Be boringly specific
Generic heartbreak is the default output of every lyric model. Specificity is the human job. Swap “broken heart in the neon night” for a receipt, a bus number, a brand of tea, a left-turn that always floods. One concrete object per verse is enough; two metaphors in a line is already a pile-up.
Pick a point of view and a tense and do not wander. “I” in past tense with one present-tense chorus (the feeling that still won’t clock out) is a classic, reliable shape.
5. Known AI-lyric weeds
If your draft contains three or more of these, it will sound like every other generated song. The workshop flags them as you type.
neon · shadows · in the night · echoes of · shattered · phoenix · destiny · forevermore · soul on fire · dancing in the rain · lost in the · whispers in the dark · rise above · kaleidoscope · velvet night · symphony of · heartbeats racing · chasing dreams · broken pieces · abyss
6. Forms that survive generation
- Radio pop: Intro → V → Pre → C → V → Pre → C → Bridge → C. Chorus under 8 lines.
- Folk tale: V V C V C. Verses do plot; chorus is the moral you can hum.
- Hip-hop notebook: 16 / 16 / 8 hook / 16. Count bars. Internal rhyme over perfect rhyme.
- Ballad: V C V C Bridge C. Leave air: short lines, longer vowels.
- Punk sprint: V C V C C. Ninety seconds of language. No bridge required.
- Odd form: Spoken cold-open → whispered verse → shouted refrain → instrumental recipe → half-chorus. Tell the model the contrast in the style line.
7. Asking an AI to write the words
If you want the model to draft lyrics (not just sing yours), give it constraints the way a publisher would:
- Subject in one sentence, plus what the song must not mention.
- Rhyme scheme (ABAB, AABB, xAxA) and a max line length.
- A title that must appear unchanged in the chorus.
- Three concrete images it is required to use.
- The style line from this desk, pasted verbatim.
Write lyrics only, no commentary. Title: Quarter Cycle Must use: dryer window, green cardigan, bus 42 Forbidden: neon, destiny, broken pieces Scheme: ABCB in verses, AA BB in chorus Form: [Verse] [Chorus] [Verse] [Chorus] [Bridge] [Chorus] Style: laundromat soul, rotary-speaker organ, 96 BPM, dry close vocal
8. Odd sounds are just extra axes
A “weird genre” is five ordinary knobs turned to uncommon combinations: rhythm + instrument that doesn’t belong + vocal placement + room + era. “Baroque drill” is harpsichord ornaments + sliding 808s + courtly diction + stone hall + 140 BPM. The mixer on this desk rolls those knobs; you still write the words in the workshop so the oddness has something true to sit on.
Chance operations
Odd sound mixer
Roll a style that should not exist, then steal it. Each roll picks an era, a rhythm, an instrument that doesn’t belong, a vocal, and a room. Save the ones that make your neck do something.
Hit roll. No two collisions are stored until you send them to the workshop.
The five knobs
- Era sets harmony language and recording dirt.
- Rhythm is the spine; oddness lives in the clash with the instrument.
- Foreign instrument should be audible in bar one of the style line.
- Vocal is distance + texture, not a celebrity impression.
- Room tells the reverb what size lie to tell.