To use AI for lyrics or...

...to write from the heart? This is my question.

Post Modernism proposes that “everything is a social construct”. EVERYTHING.

What about the resonant frequencies of sound, of light, of goosebumps, and of ideals we innately recognize and aspire to, like authenticity, health, and perfection.

Truth, creativity, imagination, empathy, and love.

I enjoy imagining, creating, and writing about a world that is POST post modern. One that is rooted in the belief that something must be left standing at the core of the onion when all the false layers have been stripped away.

What is that something?

I welcome you to join me~ a song-writing musician, and rebellious free- spirited thinker~ on the adventure of a lifetime where innate curiosity & inspiration lead us down the road less travelled, eternally devoted to exploring what IS left standing as the world crumbles to pieces around us.

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Hey lovelies!

I’d love to hear your thoughts about something I’ve been pondering. It’s entirely possible that I’m just bein’ a jerk.

So…..

A recent experience with a neighbour of mine, who is now more of a friend than someone to just borrow butter from, has inspired this post today. I’m going to call him Johnny Cash for this post.

Over the past three years, I’ve watched him go through the most annoying never-ending battle for divorce. Sadly, his ex is not seeking a fair settlement- rather she is aiming to take all she can get from him, to her own detriment. And the kids.

It’s so sad to watch from the sidelines.

It will never cease to amaze me how two mated people in love can go from sleeping at night with heads on pillows beside one another to intentional acts of harm.

The only comfort I can offer is my support and compassion, as well as any life-coping skills and tools I personally employ to help myself move through life’s more challenging experiences. One such tool is song-writing.

Since we became neighbours three years ago, Johnny has watched me go through a break-up from a ten year relationship, be ostracized from society due to a medical choice/insane ruling class, and nasty treatment from a woke friend whose head exploded all over me from cognitive dissonance and his commitment to self-delusion.

All three of these experiences were incredibly painful for me.

I’ve posted all three of these songs below.

Thank God I have music. The great alchemical elixir. My magical musical medicine.

After sitting in the fire of pain and discomfort, being vulnerable and stripped down, and allowing myself to write from a place of raw honesty, I am always able to transmute my suffering and transform it into something beautiful, something meaningful, and something I can share with others who need that same medicine.

Johnny has witnessed this process of mine multiple times. He has cheered me on and celebrated my songs when I’ve come out the other end, guitar in hand and voice strong; a victor over essential dark nights of the soul; an empowered songstress with wings fully spanned, hard-earned wisdom like a sword in hand, stepping out into the light renewed and radiant.

Alchemized. Integrated. Healed.

When I suggested he write a song about his broken marriage and challenging divorce, he saw the value of the exercise immediately. After all, he enjoys playing other people’s songs on his guitar and felt intuitively that it would be good medicine for him to write about his own feelings and present situation.

Over the past week, I’ve heard him outside my window strumming and singing. I’ve smiled knowingly to myself in recognition of the stage of the creative process he was at- when words and music begin to coalesce and dance together inside a delicious sonic recipe. I was listening to a magician work his magic by birthing something entirely new out of nothing, all while healing his hurt. I was truly excited to hear it whenever he was ready to share it with me.

The other day, he sat me down and played it for me.

I noted the lyrics right away and told him I thought they were great. I was impressed.

That’s the moment he admitted- no “confessed” was the word he used- to using AI to help him write them.

I think I might have stopped breathing. I was punched in the gut.

While I’m proud of him for stretching himself and trying something new, and I do want to encourage him to continue creating, I’m aware of my reaction and resistance to his chosen method.

This is the part of the conversation where I invite you to share your thoughts with me.

I can admit that I’m biased in the area of songwriting. I think of it as an art. A craft.

I get that not all great songs need to be born of a cathartic healing process. Songs can simply be fun and silly, loud and anthemic, sad, sappy, joyful or happy. I love tons of songs that have crappy lyrics- especially if they get me dancing. But in general I prefer to feel the human in the song and a lot of that comes from the authentic truth they’ve written into the words being sung. Heart and soul, rhythm and blues.

How the heck was I supposed to react to a song he didn’t even write? After all, the initial point of Johnny writing the song to begin with was to express the complexity of emotions he was feeling. To work through a difficult human experience.

Well, this is where we are at, folks. It’s a sign of the times to even be having this conversation. To be clear, I do not see this as a black or white issue. It’s incredibly complex. All technology is a tool. And I’m all for tools that improve our lives.

I gotta ask, how much of the work are we willing to surrender to the tool?

A hammer sinks a nail. It does not dream up a vision and design the house. It can’t.

Yes, I use a computer and software, digital keyboard and gear, plug-ins and software, editing and mastering tools in the process of recording my songs. But I do not use the tools to write the song itself- only to facilitate me in giving it a voice.

A computer does not feel, think, or experience life so how can it be used to express that which of which it has zero concept?

A computer cannot tap into the muse, cannot hear the call of inspiration, cannot feel the thrill of an emotional alchemical transmutation. This is a realm belonging solely/soul-y to Humans. It can help us to express ourselves in powerful ways but should it replace, can it replace our part in the creative process altogether?

In a recent discussion with friends about topic many aspects were explored.

Perhaps the human element is to be found in the prompts Johnny gave the AI to deliver the words he wanted. This is an interesting point. He would have had to feed it some specifically selected words that closely represented his feelings in order for AI to construct appropriate lyrics relative to Johnny’s purpose.

One of my favourite artists, Amy Rosebush

What IS a name, really?

uses AI tools brilliantly to create thrilling art. Amy’s visual art is so incredibly powerful and beautiful beyond what I could ever imagine because of the way she feeds it deeply thoughtful, intelligent, ‘out of the box’ prompts.

She credits the use of AI in her collaborative creations.

Is this the ethical distinction to make in order for me to feel ok about it?

If I knew Johnny was going to tell everyone he played his song for that he collaborated with AI to write it would I feel better about how his lyrics were written?

I’m unsure. Giving credit where it’s due only eases a part of my discomfort.

The reason he gave me for not writing them on his own was that he “found it difficult” to write lyrics with good flow. As someone who has taken years to finish some songs, I completely understand how hard this can be.

However, challenges shape us, make us stronger. How do we improve at something without doing more of it?

It could be argued that things that are difficult to do are the only things worth doing.

Another aspect to consider is that, from a very zoomed out perspective, there is nothing in our world that isn’t of Nature. All things are organic as they are all at their origin-point of the Earth. This includes our smart phones, computers, laser beams, wheelbarrows, and backgammon boards.

‘Artificial Intelligence’ is a misnomer- it’s simply intelligence.

It’s just been packaged differently.

So given this, is the emergence of trans-humanism- to any degree- something to fear or should we embrace it as a natural evolution towards a different sort of Human being? As much as I can see this perspective philosophically, spiritually and intuitively it gets my hackles up.

For some very real reason, I don’t want to put chips in my body or a link in my neural network. I shudder at the idea of becoming (more of) a cyborg.

But why?

Is it just a taste thing? My personal bias towards a lifestyle less encumbered by digital tech and more desirous of feeling free of devices? Is it because I resist change? Am I being stubborn and close-minded? This is the part where I may just be a jerk.

Or am I just old-fashioned and this is why I hate the idea of a future where we’ve normalized AI making our art for us?

In reflecting on this I can see that it’s not just the vision of a future where we can no longer tell the difference between computer and human-made art that repulses me- it’s the thought of a future in which we no longer care to.

In the meantime, I surrender. I can’t stop change.

Nor can I control our collective destiny. And I certainly don’t want to control how others navigate themselves through our quickly evolving technological landscape.

As the eternal anarchist, I leave those choices to them. And I’ll choose mine.

For now, I’ll keep plunking long and doing my thing which is honing my craft and being the best at it that I can be. I’ll keep excavating myself and stripping away all that’s not real to discover the gold nugget inside the stone.

I’d love to hear whatever thoughts you have on this, my friends, so please feel free to share them with me.

love 🤍 Jacqueline

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the songs

As promised, each of these posts contains a song I wrote as a response to very specific experiences. Please enjoy either reading the original posts or simply scrolling through them to locate the song within.

I appreciate you listening more than my little typed words on a screen can say. 🤍

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