I wouldn’t go so far as to say that there is no place for AI in music (I’m a Holly Herndon fan, after all). But I generally find AI-generated music to be annoyingly boring, especially Suno’s effects. So I’m having a hard time processing the fact that I actually enjoy 1010Benja’s “Semiramis’ Dream.”
Benja has been tight-lipped about his use of artificial intelligence on his latest EP, Time has nothing to do with what you choose… The other three tracks can’t hold a candle to what you get in 2024 Total Ten. But opener “Semiramis’ Dream” is infectious. A jungle beat blasted through the speakers and Benja’s amazing voice, clearly human front and center.
You’d be forgiven for not immediately noticing that the song is a Suno product. It lacks many dead talents. Even the most obvious AI part of the song – the chorus of backing singers – is easily hidden among the rapid-fire chops that are so influential. Highly processed and artificial sounding lyrics are the basis of many modern pop genres and, by relying on that ignorance, Benja manages to hide their origins.
My friend Patrick Holder made the beat. I recorded the words. Then we feed elements to Suno, sit on something, take it out, edit it in Ableton, and then send it back to Suno. So when you check on Deezer, it marks the song as produced by AI. We don’t hide it. We don’t feel ashamed about it.
Benja’s process sets it apart from other Suno slops out there. He wrote the lyrics, sang the lyrics, and worked with the participants to sing. Then he put that into Suno, took what the AI spat out, brought it into Abelton, edited it, added some layers, fed that back into Suno… rinse repeat ad. Benja estimates that he did this several hundred times with “The Dream of Semiramis.”
Although Benja says he is not known for the tools he uses, he is not under the impression that using AI for production does not come with responsibility. He acknowledges the damage it’s doing to the world, but somehow says we can’t stop greedy companies or put the AI genie back in the bottle: “A good person doesn’t win this one,” he says.
The reason I use gen at all is because my ideas are currently beyond my control. People have been asking me, “Did you use gen AI on this EP?” i’m like [sarcastically] “No, I hired a paid children’s choir.” What are we talking about? I didn’t pay the rent last month, and I won’t pay the rent this month. I don’t know where I will be.
It’s hard not to sympathize with Benja. Despite seemingly being close to the band and winning Best New Music from it A fork for Total Ten, he is a struggling artist who has endured periods of homelessness.
However, we also have to admit that there is little in “Semiramis’s Dream” about sexuality that would not have been achieved without AI. Sure, he couldn’t hire a children’s choir, but it’s not like the AI is all over the place Time has nothing to do with what you choose… it is particularly convincing. The same effect can be achieved with layered performance and intelligent voice processing.
1010Benja still hasn’t converted me — I’m still deeply skeptical of AI creativity. But he has proven that, in the right hands, Suno needn’t be a sloppy engine.
