Viewpoint: What happens when you use AI to make a National Day song?
SINGAPORE – As someone who has been playing the guitar for many years and has had experience writing, recording and releasing music before the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), I have mixed feelings about using the technology to come up with songs.
I understand it can be a tool to discover new sonic possibilities, but I am also wary of its potential to devalue, and even replace, human labour.
So, when the assignment from my editors – to come up with a National Day song using AI – fell into my lap, I approached it with both curiosity and dread.
After reading up on the various platforms that allow users, regardless of music experience or expertise, to come up with music using generative AI, I decided on Suno. Based on reviews and feedback, it seems to be among the more intuitive ones that let users come up with songs quickly.
A few minutes later, a complete song with lyrics, a human-like singing voice and instrumentation such as drums, guitars, strings and synthesizers was born.
All I had to do was type in a few text prompts – which in this case was essentially something based on recent National Day Parade anthems such as Not Alone (2024) and Shine Your Light (2023).
But I cannot take credit for, or feel any sense of ownership over, this tune, no more than I can call myself a chef after I microwave a frozen meal bought from 7-11.
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Titled Together, We Shine, it might pass as background or elevator music, but is way too generic and bland for anyone to ever take seriously as an anthem fit for the nation's 60th birthday.
The lyrics are cliched, rife with monosyllabic rhymes ('way' with 'grey', 'tall' with 'all') and cobbled together using previous official NDP favourite ('We build with dreams, we build with care, our voices echo everywhere').
The male singing voice has, for some reason, a vague American accent, and the audio sounds so compressed and over-polished that it comes across lifeless and flat.
You can listen to it here (
str.sg/aBzo ) and judge for yourself.
AI-made music has been in the news lately, mostly thanks to the whirlwind Spotify success of
AI-generated indie rock band The Velvet Sundown .
The concerning thing is, for the first month of its existence, the 'band' insisted they were real humans, despite many speculating they were an AI creation. While photos of the four members were clearly produced with gen-AI, The Velvet Sundown – whose music and image borrow heavily from retro 1970s rock – had a pretty convincing backstory on their profile.
Their music was also automatically pushed to users' playlists by Spotify's algorithm – one of the reasons they got so big so quickly, while human music-makers struggle to get streams. It was only about a month after the quartet's June debut that they were revealed to be an 'art hoax'.
But, like with most other tech, AI is just a tool, and not inherently bad. While platforms like Suno and Udio offer idiot-proof ways to generate immediate songs – the way I did with mine – there are many other ways that AI is being used to enhance human creativity in music.
For example, Singapore-based online music-making platform BandLab has AI features designed to help and supplement human creativity, instead of replacing it.
In an online workshop with the company's head of artist development and education Kevin Breuner, a musician and songwriter himself, I learnt how users can use its AI tools to help suggest ideas, enhance audio recordings and convert a human voice into an instrument.
The bulk of the work in song creation ultimately falls on the artiste using the platform, so there is still a lot of emphasis on human ingenuity.
Right now, there are a few tell-tale signs that a piece of music is written by software. In the case of The Velvet Sundown, the lead singer's voice inexplicably changes from song to song.
But at the rate the technology is advancing, it will not be long before AI-generated music will sound so authentic that even the most seasoned music experts will not be able to tell it is artificial.
And that is when music lovers, or anyone who consumes music in any form, has to decide if they value human artistry and inventiveness enough to always choose a work crafted by a real person over one churned out via binary code.
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He has long been drawn to quiet, emotionally layered stories, often exploring themes of memory, identity and belonging in his films. He now brings this same sensibility in telling the country's story on its biggest national stage. For the past NDP shows he directed, he featured stories of migrant workers and ex-offenders striving for second chances, grounded on his personal belief that there is room for a more empathetic society. "This year, there is a significant focus on people with disabilities. It has always been my hope to inspire more empathy and understanding (among various communities)." WITH EXPERIENCE COMES CONFIDENCE There are few creative jobs quite like orchestrating the NDP's show segment. As creative director, Mr Boo oversees everything from conceptualising the show's theme, storyline and staging, as well as working with a team of artistes, musicians, designers, choreographers and filmmakers to bring his vision to life. It is a mammoth undertaking involving thousands of participants and requiring careful planning and coordination, but he has learnt much from his earlier experiences directing the NDP shows. "I used to focus a lot on achieving professional excellence in the choreography, the performances, everything. But over time, I've come to appreciate that even when things are a little rough around the edges, it can still be incredibly powerful," he said. "What matters most is the spirit of the performers and how they reflect the broader community of Singaporeans. That, to me, is just as meaningful." Before becoming the creative director for the first time, Mr Boo had served as film and multimedia director at three NDP shows, with veteran musician-songwriter Dick Lee at the helm. "I have (him) to thank for roping me in as early as 2010 and again in 2014 and 2015. I learned a lot during those years about what it takes to put together (a show of this scale). "But of course, when I took on the role of creative director myself in 2018, I injected what I understood as a filmmaker into the process and tried to do things my way," he said, recalling that he was also guided by his team's feedback, often bouncing ideas off them to make everything work. Especially when it came to the performance segments, Mr Boo admitted that he often felt like a fish out of water because he was unfamiliar with the theatrical side of things. "I relied a lot on the team to propose ideas on what the costumes should look like, the music and the choreography. But now, I am more comfortable saying, 'No, don't do that' or 'Why not try this instead?' "(The confidence) does come with experience. I am now much better at being specific about what I think we should have (for the show)," he added. Certainly, looking back now, there were moments where he wished he had done things differently and when such situations surfaced again this time, he was able to refine them. 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"That is why we always try to make the (rehearsals) feel as ready and complete as possible, even though it is still very early in the process when those shows happen." In the years when he was not involved in the show as creative director, he usually watched the NDP from home, Mr Boo said, because he was curious to see how other directors or artists interpreted and presented the themes of National Day. As for whether he plans to take a break after wrapping up 18 months of work for the NDP, the answer was no. "I'll be jumping right back into my next feature film, from which I took a break to do NDP. We're hoping to complete it by early next year," he said. The film, shot in Taiwan and Singapore, has been eight years in the making – and that was all he would say about the project. On what he hopes viewers could take away from this year's show, he pointed to a line in this year's NDP theme song Here We Are, performed by Singapore artistes Charlie Lim, Kit Chan and The Island Voices. It goes like this: to be seen, heard and known. "When I first came across the lyrics, they really struck me," Mr Boo said. "To some degree, that's what we do as artists – we tell stories, shine a light on a sentiment, a feeling, a character. And with something like NDP, we try to do that on the broadest possible scale.
