As AI continues to set the agenda and dominate conversation wherever you go, it’s natural to question its place in creative work like songwriting. When it comes to creating a song release, AI doesn’t have to be the enemy. In fact, it can be a powerful ally. While fully AI-generated songs might feel like a threat to artists with a clear creative vision, using AI as a tool, not a replacement, can open up exciting new possibilities.

In this post, we explore a number of practical ways AI can support and enhance your songwriting process, helping you push your music to the next level.

1. Lyric Fine Tuning

Whether you’re a rap artist or a singer, AI has the potential to support your lyric-writing process in a number of useful ways. While some vocalists may be hesitant to let AI contribute to their lyrics, it’s worth remembering that many hit songs are written by dedicated songwriters behind the scenes. So if you frame it through that lens, AI simply becomes your own personal ghostwriter.

The beauty of AI is that you can use it as much, or as little, as you need. It’s fully capable of generating lyrics for an entire song, or it can help with just a few lines you’re stuck on. Wherever you’re facing writer’s block, AI can step in with a range of creative suggestions.

The key to making AI work for your lyrics is to stay in control of the process. Instead of relying on it to generate a final product straight out the gate, guide it intentionally. Be as detailed and specific as possible in your prompts. You can even include reference lyrics or stylistic examples to steer the tone. In fact, if you have previous songs that you’ve written, why not provide these lyrics to train the AI? This could potentially give the generated lyrics a more authentic and personal feel.

And finally, its crucial that you don’t settle for the first result—AI excels at reworking lines, offering endless variations and fresh angles. Keep iterating until something clicks. After all, as the vocalist, these lyrics should reflect you.

So, what are the best Lyric writing AI tools out there to assist you in your song writing endeavours? Here are a few options worth checking out.

• LyricStudio: Offers suggestions line by line based on your input; you can toggle between different lyric directions and tones.
• These Lyrics Do Not Exist: Generates entire song lyrics based on genre and mood selections.
• AI Lyrics Generator: Generates unique, catchy lyrics for any song style
• Chap GPT: The worlds most popular AI tool also handles Lyric writing with ease.

2. Hook Creation

Whether you’re making Hip-Hop, House, Pop, Rock, or anything in between, one thing holds true, most great songs hinge on a strong, memorable hook. In genres like Hip-Hop, where you may prioritise lyrical verses or ‘bars’, the hook can sometimes become an afterthought. That’s where AI can step in, offering creative ideas or even generating complete hook elements to elevate your track.

So how can you use AI to craft that standout chorus? Here are a three great suggestions to get you started.

Rap phrases, Vocal chops and Chants.

If you’re working in Hip-Hop, hooks built around short rap phrases, vocal chops, adlibs, or chants are a staple, especially in Boom Bap—think classic DJ Premier choruses. To experiment with this using AI, start by importing your instrumental into a music generation platform like Suno or Udio.

Begin by feeding the AI with lyric prompts that match your track’s tone or theme. Don’t be afraid to keep generating options until something sparks inspiration.

Since you’ll likely be isolating a few standout phrases for your hook, focus on identifying strong vocal moments or repeatable lines. Once you’ve got a batch of promising outputs, use a stem separation tool—either the built-in feature in Suno/Udio or a dedicated service like LALAL.AI or Splitter.ai—to isolate vocals.

With your isolated phrases, try building your hook by layering or repeating key lines. Scratched vocal snippets can work especially well here, so if you know a skilled DJ, get them involved. This method also translates perfectly to EDM or House, where rhythmically chopped vocals—especially female or male vocal hits—are often used as melodic hooks. Just tweak your prompts accordingly.

Sung Hooks with AI-Generated Vocals

Many of the most iconic Hip-Hop tracks lean on sung hooks, often featuring soulful female vocals. Think Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G. With today’s AI tools, creating these melodic sections is easier than ever.

Start by importing your track into Udio or Suno, then highlight the section where you want the hook to go. You can either ask the AI to generate lyrics based on a detailed prompt or write your own hook lyrics and paste them in. If you’re stuck on lyric ideas, tools like ChatGPT can help craft catchy lines based on your song’s theme.

Once your lyrics are in place, let the AI generate multiple takes of sung vocals. Keep iterating until you find something that fits. If a take is close but not quite right, many platforms let you zoom in and tweak specific words or lines.

When you’re happy with the result, use the built-in stem export feature—or a third-party tool—to isolate the vocal. While it might be tempting to use the full AI-generated track directly, keep in mind that the overall mix or fidelity might not meet release standards. Instead, use the vocal stem as a creative reference or a layered element in your final production.

Vocal Replacement for Studio-Quality Hooks

If you’re after the highest quality solution to AI hook creation, vocal replacement software provides the key. Platforms like Audimee and Kits.AI allow you to upload a guide vocal—either AI-generated or your own—and have it replicated by a professional-quality AI voice model.

Here’s how to do it:
Start by generating a guide vocal for your hook using the methods mentioned above (text-to-melody, AI lyrics, or your own demo recording). Instead of using this vocal in the final track—which might contain artifacts or limitations—feed it into a vocal replacement tool. The software will recreate the performance using a clean, studio-grade voice.

You can experiment with different vocalists to find the best match for your song’s tone. Many platforms even allow you to train custom voice models, so long as you have permission to use the source vocals.

What’s more, you don’t need to be a trained singer. These tools often apply automatic tuning and timing corrections, letting anyone bring their melodic ideas to life with professional results.

3. Musical Arrangement & Embellishment

While AI is perfectly capable of creating complete songs and instrumental backing tracks lets assume that you have the bones of a song and are looking to develop it further through AI. There are so many possibilities they would be impossible to list in this guide. Instead lets touch on a few ideas that could help to inspire you.

Instrument variation

AI tools like Udio and Suno excel at remixing, enhancing, and adding new melodic or rhythmic elements to existing tracks. Think of them as virtual session musicians. Because the quality of AI is not yet perfect you’re not going to want it to create fully formed beats. Rather, you will want it to generate new isolated melodic sections or instrumental layers that you can later integrate back into your track.

To do this, it’s best if your project is made up of separate stems. Decide which element you want the AI to focus on, and create an edited version of your track that includes both the full mix (for context) followed by the isolated specific element. The more clearly isolated the element, the better the AI can interpret and build upon it. Upload this guide audio to the AI tool and request a remix or extension based on the isolated section. Experiment with multiple generations until you find something usable. The full track provides the necessary context, while the isolated part tells the AI where to focus.

You can add additional text prompts to help guide the process but text prompt results vary—these tools tend to respond better to audio input. Once you’ve generated new material, export the AI-created elements and incorporate them back into your project.

Loop enhancement

If you’re working with sample loops instead of fully stemmed tracks, you can still use similar techniques to create variation and embellishments. Simply upload the isolated loop into the AI tool and prompt it to continue or remix the material. While output quality may depend on the source, AI often produces usable results, especially with melodic elements. Where AI currently seems to struggle is Drums and percussive elements with pronounced sharp transients. AI tends to handle melodies better, and you can usually blend its output with the original source without it sounding out of place.

Inspiration

Sometimes you’ve got a great groove going but hit a creative wall. You’re not sure how to transition, develop the track further, or fill in a specific section like the middle eight. In these moments, AI can be a powerful source of inspiration and compositional direction.

Try uploading your track to Udio or Suno up to the point where you’re stuck. Use the “continue” feature and add a text prompt describing what you’d like to hear next, such as “create an emotive change with a string section,” or “drop the beat and slowly build to a dramatic climax.” Results can be hit or miss, and the AI may occasionally completely loose the plot leading to much hilarity, but with persistence, you’re likely to land on something that sparks a fresh idea or new direction.

If the AI generates something useful, you can try and recreate it in your DAW. Tools that convert audio to MIDI can help you capture the AI’s performance more precisely for further editing and integration into your song.

Summary

As AI continues to evolve at an astonishing pace, its impact on music creation is inevitable. While it’s already capable of generating entire songs and backing tracks, the audio quality of the results are not quite release ready. For now, the real power of AI lies in its ability to assist with specific aspects of the creative process. By applying the techniques outlined in this guide, you can harness AI as a supportive tool, one that works with your vision rather than relying on its often unpredictable output. That said, this very unpredictability can be a valuable source of inspiration, especially for sparking new ideas.

So why not give it a go and explore where AI can take your music? This is only the beginning.

For all your music creation needs don’t forget to check out RouteNote Create, where we have an incredible selection of top-quality Samples as well as a great selection of release-ready beats to help make your song ideas a reality.