How to design your own artist using AI Part 1: the idea

That was the question I asked myself in July 2024, inspired by a news report I heard on the radio.
The relatively unknown Dutch artist ‘John de Koning’ had managed to score a hit with the song “Zo Zomer.”
It sounded like it had been made by AI, and as it turned out, it was.

I had already created a song with Suno that I thought was just “so-so,” so I decided to give it another shot, this time using Udio.
I often let my thoughts guide me, and this time, they wandered to Caro Emerald, whose music I’ve always enjoyed. I even saw her live once—I think it was in Amsterdam.
On her website, I read that she had stopped performing as Caro Emerald back in 2022. A shame, really.

But the swingbeat genre had me hooked again, so I decided that the song I was going to generate on Udio had to go in that direction as well.

Before we get into explaining how I did it, I want to take a moment to talk about the lyrics and the idea behind them.
I came up with and wrote the lyrics myself. Yes, I had ChatGPT review and refine them to make them flow better, but the idea and the words are mine.

Just to be clear, I’m not letting AI do all the heavy lifting here. 🙂

I’ll explain how I came up with the lyrics later on. For now, let’s just say that I already had the core idea and the text ready.

The lyrics are about a woman with the name: Karen, in her forties. She’s married, has kids, and a decent job.
But there’s this desire. She doesn’t want to give in to it. Yet it becomes incredibly difficult when, at the annual Christmas party at a nearby café on the office grounds, she meets the much younger bartender with the name ‘Taylor’.

Can she keep herself in check? That’s what the song is about. “A Tempting Touch.”
That would be the title of the song, as it captures the essence of the story.

Bringing the Scene to Life

I tried using MidJourney to turn the images I had in my head into photos—pictures that would capture the Christmas party scene where this story unfolds. And that naturally led me to the idea of making a music video too.

Sounds like a fun project, right?

Then there was the matter of the fictional artist. Or artisté, since I knew from the start it had to be a woman.
A woman of color, to be more precise. Looking at my own music taste, there’s a noticeable trend—I tend to enjoy artists like Marvin Gaye, Barry White, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Billy Preston, Donna Summer, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, and countless disco groups from the late ’70s and early ’80s like Earth Wind and Fire. Artists of color often bring a much deeper sense of rhythm, soul, and sensuality to their music. I thought of an old LP cover of Roberta Flack that I have at home—a beautiful, big Afro filling the entire cover. My fictional artist was inspired by certain visual elements, like the beautiful, big Afro from that LP cover of Roberta Flack. But she should have her own unique twist—maybe a bit more mischievous.

Vivienne

The first name that came to mind—and the one I immediately chose—was “Vivienne.”
A terrible choice, as it would turn out later. But as a name, it’s sensual and just sounds really good.

The café and its guests would also become the setting for the music video, but with a slightly different twist.
I had the idea to give it a 1950s comic style, for no particular rational reason—it just felt like it would fit.

Using MidJourney, I tried to generate her based on my imagination. I was quite satisfied with the final result.
The ambiance of the photos also captured the vibe of a small stage in a café—exactly as I had imagined it.

Moving Forward with Udio and Midjourney

Okay, I now had a fictional artist, an idea for the lyrics, and a clear musical direction. The next step was to actually generate the song with Udio and more pictures of the artist with Midjourney. In part two, you’ll read about how I tackled this next phase and how Udio and MidJourney are involved.

Listen to the Final Result
But to start with the end result; you can listen to the song here: