(December 17, 2022) A Reddit user earlier this week unveiled his new internet creation: "I made a website that explains you the meaning of virtually any song."
The site, called songtell.com, does just what the User says. It uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze the lyrics of a sing and then write a quick synopsis. And, from what we see, the AI does a pretty good job. As of this writing, the site had over 21,000 song entries. A drop in the bucket considering the number of songs out there, but a fast pace of growth for a website that is so new.
(December 17, 2022) A Reddit user earlier this week unveiled his new internet creation: "I made a website that explains you the meaning of virtually any song."
The site, called songtell.com, does just what the User says. It uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze the lyrics of a sing and then write a quick synopsis. And, from what we see, the AI does a pretty good job. As of this writing, the site had over 21,000 song entries. A drop in the bucket considering the number of songs out there, but a fast pace of growth for a website that is so new.
To test it, we typed in Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and this is what songtell.com came up with: The song "Thriller" is a horror-themed dance-pop song that depicts a horrifying and suspenseful situation. The lyrics tell a story of a person being stalked by a spooky creature at night, having to fight for survival against it and its cohorts until morning. The song encourages listeners to embrace their fears and dance along with the beat as if to challenge their own anxiety. The bridge of the song also builds in a sense of urgency as the protagonist realizes that “There’s no escaping the jaws of the alien this time”. In the end, the protagonist is triumphant and proves that “No mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller”. The message of the song is to overcome fear through facing it head on and to be brave.
To stay on the odd song theme, we plugged in Rockwell's 1984 novelty song, "Somebody's Watching Me." Songtell described it this way: The song "Somebody’s Watching Me" by Rockwell (Ft. Jermaine Jackson is about the feeling of paranoia that someone is watching you all the time. The song speaks of the unease that is created when someone feels unable to have any privacy or escape from prying eyes. It speaks of the fear of uncertainty and of feeling unsafe, and suggests that being constantly observed can make you feel trapped and vulnerable. It also speaks of the anxiety that ‘the people on TV can see you’, suggesting that our lives are constantly monitored and under scrutiny. Despite its ominous message, the song also speaks of resilience and of not letting paranoia get the better of you, encouraging the listener to reclaim their power and take control of their own life.
The Songtell.com website comes on the heels of several major stories about the development of AI as a means of communication, from OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbox software to the commercial Jasper product that claims to be able to write marketing pieces.
For music lovers, songtell.com is an early view into a world that is no doubt coming, as AI and machine learning will continue to play a bigger role in how humans catalog information, access data and communicate. Check it out and see what you think.