A custom song you can make this weekend.

A few weeks ago I gave you the bedtime story tutorial. Today I want to give you the second one.

This is the project I’ve made more times than any other. Twenty-three custom songs in the last eighteen months, by my count. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, retirements, one extremely funny one about my best friend’s irrational hatred of mushrooms. The hit rate is high. The cry rate is also high. People lose their minds over these in a way they don’t over almost anything else you can make with AI.

Here’s how to make one. About forty minutes from scratch.

You will need:

— One specific person you love
— A laptop or phone
— A ChatGPT account (free)
— A Suno account (free for a few songs per day)
— A quiet room

That’s it. No microphone, no music software, no theory background. You don’t need to know what a chorus is. You don’t need to sing. You don’t need to be musical at all.

The most important step happens before you open any tool.

Step 1 — Make the list (15 minutes).

This is the only step that matters. Open a notes app. Write down twenty to thirty specific things about the person you’re making the song for. Specific.

Not “she’s funny.” Specific funny. The thing she said at your aunt’s funeral that you both laughed about while you were crying. The way she pronounces aluminum. The dog she named Mr. President when she was nine. The Tuesday in 2019 you both got food poisoning at the same Thai place.

The more specific your list, the better the song will be. Twenty things is the minimum. Thirty is better. If you can’t get to twenty, the song is going to feel generic — that means you need to spend more time remembering before you spend any time writing.

Step 2 — Write the lyrics (10 minutes).

Open ChatGPT. Paste this prompt. Edit only the bits in brackets:

I want to write lyrics for a song for [PERSON’S NAME], who is my [RELATIONSHIP]. The occasion is [BIRTHDAY / WEDDING / ANNIVERSARY / RETIREMENT / NO SPECIAL OCCASION]. Here are about thirty specific things about them — please use as many as possible: [PASTE YOUR LIST]. I want three verses and a chorus. Each verse should reference about seven of the specific things. The chorus should be one short repeated emotional line that captures what this person means to me. Keep the language natural, not poetic, not too clever. Don’t make it cheesy. Don’t make it a list — weave the specifics into actual sentences. Aim for about 200 words total.

Read what comes back. Read it out loud. Cross out lines that don’t sound like you. Ask ChatGPT to rewrite specific lines: “Verse two is too generic. Make it more about the time we got lost in Lisbon.” Iterate three or four times. You’ll know when it sounds right — it’ll sound like you talking, with a little more rhythm.

Step 3 — Generate the song (10 minutes).

Open Suno. Paste your finished lyrics. Choose a style. You want something that feels right for the person — soft folk and acoustic singer-songwriter are safe defaults that almost always work. If the person likes country, pick country. If they’re a metalhead, pick metal (this is funnier than you think).

Suno will generate two versions. Listen to both. Usually one is better. Sometimes you need to regenerate two or three times.

Heads up: Suno will sometimes change words in the lyrics. This is the dolphin-becoming-whale phenomenon I wrote about earlier. Sometimes it improves them. Sometimes it makes them weird. If the change is funny, keep it. If it kills a specific reference that matters, regenerate.

Step 4 — Download and deliver (5 minutes).

Download the MP3. Send it via WhatsApp, AirDrop, email, text — whatever the person uses. Don’t write a long message explaining it. Just send it with: I made you this. Listen with headphones.

That’s the whole thing.

One small note on delivery. Don’t send it in a group chat. Don’t post it on social media. Don’t tell other people about it before you’ve given it to the person. This is a private gift. The privacy is part of why it works.

The first time you do this it’ll feel weird. The second time it’ll take twenty minutes instead of forty. By the fifth time you’ll be doing it for people you barely know — your aunt’s seventieth birthday, a colleague’s retirement — and you’ll start being known as the person who makes custom songs for people, which is one of the better things to be known for.

If you make one in the next two weeks, write me. Tell me whose face changed, what they said, whether they made you play it twice. The replies are where this newsletter actually lives.

I’m really glad you’re here.

— Tapan

PS — Suno’s free tier is enough for two or three songs a day. If you become the person who makes custom songs for everyone you love, you may eventually want the paid tier. But start free.