Participants 2022
The Little Robots
AI Song Contest 2022 / participantsTEAM / The Little Robots
SONG / You Can’t Me Dreaming
TEAM MEMBERS / The BRIT School Students and staff - Jazzy Hearts, Lydia Whitbread, Sam Marlow, DAACI - Nadine Kroher, Rachel Molloy, Tom Cawley, Andy Bratt, Ed Harley, Doon MacDonald, Tony Lewis, Carlos Tarancon, Ian Sillitoe, Producers - Damon Minchella, Tom Manning
WiSL - Dan Peeke, Julian Goodkind
About the TEAM
Little Robots is an exciting collaborative team of song-writing and singing students from the BRIT School of Performance and Creative Arts, AI ‘composer’ DAACI, and Minchella & Manning Productions. Guided by the BRIT school’s ethos of being ‘ambitious, responsible, inclusive, original and kind’, the project explores how human expression and creativity can be supported and enhanced by new technology and AI tools. DAACI is a fully-formed AI system that composes, arranges, orchestrates, and produces the highest-quality original music. Based on more than 30 years of patented research and supported by an ongoing partnership with the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence and Music at Queen Mary University of London, DAACI is a ground-breaking system with a revolutionary analytical approach and meta-composition at its core, and will totally disrupt and enhance the creative process.
About the SONG
Conceived by humans and brought to life by DAACI (affectionately named the ‘little robots’) “ You Can’t Stop Me Dreaming” is a song about vulnerability and resilience. “Our society likes to praise about differences, but when they really have the option they shun it. They try to break you to conform. I can’t conform, I want to be me. Why do I have to be this way, can I not be myself? Our society praise so many celebrities for being different, why can’t you praise a normal human?” - Jazzy Hearts, Songwriting Student
As a final collaboration we inviteall listeners to interact, explore and engage with the song in a new way themselves using WiSL’s AI music editing and mixing tools: https://interact.daaci.com/interact/
About the HUMAN-AI PROCESS
The song started out as lyrics and a top line melody written by BRIT school student Jazzy Hearts and her song-writing teacher, Sam Marlow. Jazzy has dyslexia, dyspraxia, and autism, and relies on the assistance of others to communicate her creativity fully. Jazzy strongly feels that learning disabilities should not be a barrier to having a dream and being creative although Jazzy was told for many years that she is ‘stupid’ and ‘mad’. The DAACI team wanted to demonstrate this is far from the truth and to break down the technological barriers Jazzy faces. Jazzy’s top line, interviews and emotional brief provided the basis for DAACI and producers Minchella and Manning to compose and produce a complete track. DAACI created the chord schemes, structure, orchestration and textures, and finally specific rhythm and pitches. This MIDI output was then put through a bespoke production environment and the final recording took place with all team members meeting for the first time at the BRIT school recording studio.
Each part of the team had a specific role to play and together the song was brought to life.
“We love the song and I loved the process, the fact that everyone had a part to play and we all did this together. Watching the computer bringing the song to life and helping the siren sing. I feel proud, if I’m allowed to?” - Jazzy Hearts
Lyrics
Verse (voices in her head/ teachers)
You’re living in a fairy-tale
Get in the real world
There’s rules and restrictions
A tapestry we sew
A perfectly made system
You should already know
Why do you not get this?
there must be something wrong
Chorus (she’s done tired of people saying she’s crazy)
You may call me crazy
You may call me mad
You may call me stupid
My minds worth more than that
But why should we have systems
Why should we have class
Why should we be soldiers?
Working for the man
Verse (she’s talking back to them now)
You need more than Sellotape
To hold me back
Sticks and stones will bruise me
push me off my track
let me just tell you an interesting fact
You won't stop me dreaming
You won't stop me dreaming
you won't stop me dreaming
You won’t stop me dreaming
Chorus
You may call me crazy
You may call me mad
You may call me stupid
You may call me daft
Why should we have systems
Why should we have class
Why should we be soldiers?
Working for the man
Bridge (down but always going to dream)
You can’t tie me down
Put me in a cage
trap me in a hole
Cause I've heard these words
So many times, been labelled before
Chorus
You may call me crazy
You may call me mad
You may call me stupid
Why do you say that?