Participants 2023
Kemi Sulola, Harriet Raynor and Rebel Algorithms
AI Song Contest 2023 / participantsTEAM / Kemi Sulola, Harriet Raynor and Rebel Algorithms
SONG / VTGO (Vertigo)
TEAM MEMBERS / Kemi Sulola, Harriet Raynor, Adrián Barahona-Ríos, Chenyu Gao, Mark Hanslip, Kyle Worrall, Tom Collins
About the TEAM
Kemi Sulola is an independent artist and singer-songwriter from London. Mostly in RnB and soul, she has released several music projects and has collaborated with other artists around the world.
Harriet Raynor is a student at the University of York, currently studying Music and Sound Recording (BA), and working as a sound engineer at Tesla Studios in Sheffield.
Members of Rebel Algorithms are Tom Collins (Associate Professor of Music Engineering in the Frost School of Music, University of Miami) and Adrián Barahona-Ríos, Chenyu Gao, Kyle Worrall, and Mark Hanslip (PhD students at University of York).
About the SONG
Vertigo, a state of disorientation, is used as a metaphor for the song to describe the love of the couple that is constantly up and down, yet they remain together knowing there is no ending to the cycle of pain in this toxic relationship. This is clear from the first two lines "The sun rose high, so high on the first dates; but if you saw the changes they came in the worst way". Sonically, the different styles the song passes through, the tempo changes and use of AI represent the feeling of the disorientation associated with vertigo.
About the HUMAN-AI PROCESS
Kemi: the human songwriting started with a theme that came to my head early in the morning some months back. It contained the word "vertigo", and from there I knew that that would be the theme of the song. Eventually half of the chorus naturally formed. I was meeting up with members of the Music Computing and Psychology Lab, to learn about AI, how it works, and the different types of AI generators possible. It was easier for me to conceive of AI elements as supporting the song, which I pursued mainly with producer Harriet.
Harriet: Using models developed by members of the Music Computing Lab, we were able to create a range of musical content and soundscapes that we used as both audio material throughout the song (e.g., the string sample at 3'05"-3'59" is generated from NoiseBandNet), as well as creative impetus for regular aspects of the song (e.g., a computer-generated melody that we cast as a guitar solo at 1'16"-1'30"). Cocreate – a web front-end developed by the Lab – allowed us to generate both audio and MIDI elements with ease. Though the song uses much of the raw material generated by these models, we also used synthesisers to impose the dynamics and changing spectral content of the material onto other signals to create more melodic content. Additionally, there was a lot of output material that was not utilised; however, it did serve as inspiration or as a reference for other elements of the track.
Lyrics
Verse 1
The Sun rose high, so high on the first dates.
But If you saw the changes, they came in the worst way
You'd be amazed. Why did I stay?
What you accept is the price that you pay.
Pre chorus
Oh, can't work it out.
Oh, merry-go-round.
Chorus
It's taking me up, it's bringing me down,
It spins me around, vertigo.
Just lovers in vain, trying to maintain,
But we're losing control, vertigo.
Verse 2
So drawn in with his charm and affection,
Lost in this love, is there any redemption?
Balance declining, head starts spinning,
Hearts entwined but we’re slowly dying.
Pre chorus, Chorus, Vocal break
Bridge
And I hope we'll work it out x 4
Broken chorus
Remix outro
It spins me around, vertigo.
Like a merry-go-round.