Music made by machines (and me)

I went deep down the “AI, make me a record producer” rabbit hole last night, and wow, what a blast. I used it to create a tune about my wildly loving 10-month-old golden retriever, Bella, on the left jumping up to lick my face in the blurry pic above from a video. Abby is my equally enthusiastic 7-year-old. 

I got this welcome home after spending the night in LA to get my corneal transplant checked. It looks like I need a little procedure to get rid of the nasty astigmatism, hopefully.

Anyway, forget passive entertainment this weekend. If you want to do something lyrical and creative, the new AI music tools are here, and they are shockingly good. 

Don’t even try to pull that “Kim, I can’t do that” nonsense! You don’t need a single ounce of musical talent, you just need a keyboard. Turn that frown upside down and at least give it a shot, because these tools are too much fun to ignore.

I tested the best two, so you don’t waste your time.

🎤 Contender 1: Suno  

Think of Suno as the ChatGPT of music. It’s fast, focused on catchy rhythms and cranks out songs that sound like they could actually hit the radio.

• The vibe: Perfect for humor, storytelling and clever lyrics.
• Best for: Comedy gold, like a country song about your husband’s snoring or a breakup ballad about slow Wi-Fi.
• Standout: It nails rhymes and structure, and the songs are toe-tapping fun.

🎧 Contender 2: ElevenLabs Music 

You know ElevenLabs for its amazingly realistic voice AI, and now they’ve stepped into music. And it shows.

• The vibe: Smooth, clean, polished, like it came out of a professional studio.
• Best for: Serious musicians or anyone making instrumental scores, film trailers or atmospheric soundtracks.
• Standout: Crisp instrumentals and higher audio quality than Suno.

🎶 How they work

No instruments. No downloads. You type your idea and hit go.

• “A ’90s boy band song about driving to see dad”
• “A heavy metal anthem about assembling IKEA furniture”

• “A soft acoustic ballad about 25 years of marriage and still choosing each other”
• “An inspiration tune for someone having a hard time”
• “A Christmas song with these memories”

💡 Pro tip: Use ChatGPT or Gemini to generate the lyrics. Then copy and paste those right into Suno or ElevenLabs Music.

Both give you a handful of free songs per day, about a minute long. If you want longer tracks (two to four minutes), the ability to combine clips and rights to use the music commercially, you’ll need to upgrade.

🐾 Click here to watch the video I made of Bella with the tune from Suno. Give it a like, too. That will tell YouTube’s algorithms to show it to more people.

🤩 If this inspired you to drop everything and launch your music career, don’t keep the fun to yourself! Forward this newsletter to a friend, or use the share icons below. Go make some noise! I fully expect a concert link by Monday.

Tags: downloads, home, video, Wi-Fi, YouTube