A game, not an instrument

As an Suno-enjoyer, I have a PSA that a few of you need: Suno isn’t an instrument, it’s a game.

It’s a great deal of fun for us non-musicians to be able to create a real sounding song based on our instructions. I’ve certainly enjoyed it.

But when you show the songs to your friends, they will not care, but act like you’re retelling a dream you had (if you’re too young to have found out, a fact of life is that listening to people retelling their dreams is intensely boring).

For us, listening to our creations is a thing of wonder, because they sound like proper songs, we made them happen! We’re enjoying what feels like a shortcut to having produced actual music, it makes us feel creatively powerful, and comes with a good hit of dopamine.

For everyone else, it’s just another generic sounding song, and it doesn’t help if you insist you made it yourself, because you really did not. We confuse the amazement of what is suddenly possible, with the amazement from a good song.

This is also why many want to share their songs here, but few are interested in listening to them. Those who do, I suspect, mostly in the hope the favour will be returned.

If you write your own lyrics (and I personally don’t understand how it can be much fun otherwise), those lyrics are art. Not necessarily good art, but real art.

The music Suno sets to those words is not art, however it may be perfect dressing for the words. In the rare instances AI-generated songs are worth listening to, it’s because of the lyrics, and the music can at best make those words stand out.

Play around with Suno is fun, but for your own sake, don’t delude yourself into thinking the result has value or interest for anyone but you. And that’s perfectly ok! Just don’t set yourself up for disappointment. If you want others to give it a listen, your best bet is humour, and subverting expectations.