AI Sings Me a Song

I fully believe technology will be the downfall of mankind and yet, it’s just so neat sometimes. Recently, I discovered Suno, an AI company that promises "a future where anyone can make music," and, of course, I had to try it out. Suno lets you type in your own lyrics, choose a musical style, and an AI algorithm will create a song for you in seconds. Best of all, they let you make several free prompts a day. Since I’m not looking to be part of any subscriptions, free sounds pretty good to me.

I'm not into writing my own songs, but when I learned about Suno's AI, I immediately knew which song needed a musical update. Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, is a hymn based on the prayer of St. Francis. The original version, which you can easily find online, has a rather choppy and unattractive way about it. I’ve always felt that despite its beautiful words, the hymn just doesn't flow well and I wondered if the AI algorithm could help. Now, before anyone accuses me of sacrilege, there's actually a long history of Christians repurposing popular melodies for the Lord. Many hymns began as secular tunes before someone added in some holy lyrics. So I don't think I'll be struck by lightening updating this beloved hymn with a little AI magic.

I chose a style that I thought would be appropriate, entered the lyrics, and out came a perfect, beautiful song. Listen to it below, it’s pretty impressive. I do wonder how churches will react to this technology. There was quite a stir when the Bible went digital, but now it seems like no one remembers the controversy. And while it would feel absolutely blasphemous for AI to write worship songs, I'm all for it crafting new melodies.

The AI-generated voice isn't as noticeable as the robotic annoying one you hear on TikTok. The new song also doesn't sound hymn-like anymore—it sounds more modern, probably due to the prompt I used.

A common critique of AI is that is “steals” the work of others and merely tweaks it. People will probably make that argument for musical AI as well.  Curious, I tested the AI with a well-known hymn: Be Thou My Vision. It is one of the oldest known hymns in the world and even today’s artists tend to stick with its tried and true melody. I just placed the hymn’s lyrics into the AI, made some small changes, and kept the prompt the same. The instant result was brilliant -the AI created an entirely new melody. You can listen to it below.

I had so much fun with the Hymns that I immediately had to try a darker Appalachian pseudo-hymn. O Death. Awesome song but could it be more awesome. Yes, yes it could. This time, I took more control of the lyrics. I realized the AI sings exactly what is written and repeats sections occasionally. By separating parts of the song, deleting some lyrics, and rearranging others, I created what felt like an original composition. Same prompt, same style, and the result was eerie, spooky, dark, and haunting—exactly what I hoped for. Loved it.

Suno was right: times are changing. You no longer need to study music theory, master instruments, or have a quality singing voice to create music. Anyone can create songs now, and what's scary is that it genuinely feels like you’ve created something wonderful, even if it’s just AI.

* The image at the top was the first AI generated picture I made using Midjourney. It's a Siren in the style of the famous painter, John William Waterhouse. Seemed fitting.