Let’s say you have the rights to a song, e.g, a song that’s in the public domain, and you want to create a cover for it by only replacing the lyrics. Here’s how you can do it using ChatGPT and Suno AI.
Upload the original song to Suno
For this example, I uploaded this song.
Suno will add your uploaded song to your workspace, as shown below. When you click on the song’s title, you’ll see an auto-generated style description of the song and the lyrics.
Song Style
A French pop song with a moderate tempo and a romantic, dreamy atmosphere, The instrumentation features a prominent acoustic guitar playing arpeggiated chords, a bass guitar providing a smooth, walking bass line, and a drum kit with a soft, brushed snare sound, Synthesizers contribute to the ethereal quality with pad sounds and occasional melodic lines, The female lead vocalist sings with a soft, breathy tone, employing a gentle vibrato, The song structure follows a verse-chorus pattern with a bridge, The chord progression is primarily diatonic, creating a sense of warmth and familiarity, Reverb is applied generously to the vocals and some instrumental elements, enhancing the dreamy quality, The overall mix is balanced, with the vocals sitting clearly in the foreground
Song Lyrics
[Intro]
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
[Verse 1]
Quand tu me souris
Mon cœur s’envole
Tout devient doux
Tout prend son rôle
Ton nom résonne
Comme une chanson
Dans mes rêves
Tu es ma raison
[Chorus]
Je me sens au ciel de t’aimer
Comme un ange qui vient d’naître
Ton amour me fait trembler
Sous la lune, je veux renaître
[Verse 2]
Tes yeux brillent comme l’été
Chaque nuit, je veux t’aimer
Ta voix douce me fait rêver
Je t’appelle sans m’arrêter
[Chorus]
Je me sens au ciel de t’aimer
Quand tes mains touchent ma peau
Le temps s’arrête enchanté
Dans ton cœur, je trouve mon écho
[Bridge]
Même si le jour se lève
Et que tout s’enfuit
Ton amour reste mon rêve
Mon paradis, c’est toi mon fruit
[Chorus]
Je me sens au ciel de t’aimer
Chaque instant, je veux y croire
Je me sens
[Outro]
Au ciel de t’aimer
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
Generate new lyrics
To create new lyrics, the easiest way is to ask ChatGPT to do it for you. For example, here’s a prompt I gave ChatGPT to generate new lyrics that meet my specific criteria:
I want to create a cover of a French song. The lyrics are below. Give me English lyrics that have a similar theme and can be used as a drop-in replacement for the French lyrics so I can use the Suno cover feature. If the French song has a rhyming pattern, the new lyrics should rhyme as well. If possible, try to match the syllable count, but prioritize the flow and meaning of the lyrics over the syllable count.
The lyrics below were auto-generated by Suno.
[Intro]
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
(Paru paru pa)
[Verse 1]
Quand tu me souris
Mon cœur s’envole
Tout devient doux
Tout prend son rôle
…
ChatGPT will then respond with the lyrics. Here’s what it gave me:
[Intro]
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
VERSE 1
When you smile at me,
My heart goes free,
Everything glows,
Warm like it knows,
Your name rings on,
Soft as a song,
In dreams each night,
You are my light.
[Chorus]
Your love lifts me higher each day,
Like an angel learning to fly,
Every touch sends my worries away,
Under moonlight, you open the sky.
[Verse 2]
Your eyes shine bright, like summer air,
Every night I find you there,
Your soft voice brings me into dream,
Calling you flows like a stream.
[Chorus]
Your love lifts me higher each day,
When your hands are holding mine,
Time stands still in your gentle way,
In your heart, all my echoes align.
[Bridge]
Even when the morning shines,
And the world moves on,
Still your love stays in my mind,
You’re the dream I lean upon.
[Chorus]
Your love lifts me higher each day,
Every moment feels so true,
I feel you—
So high in love with you.
[Outro]
Floating through the sky
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
(Para para pa)
Create cover song
Now that you have new lyrics, go back to Suno and click on the 3 dots next to the original song title, the click “Remix/Edit” > “Cover”
In the left pane, Suno will load the original song and lyrics. Replace the original lyrics with your new lyrics. In the “Style” field, paste the Suno-generated style description. Suno will also set some advanced options, like “weirdness”, “style influence”, and “audio influence”. You can keep the defaults.
Click “Create”. Suno will create 2 cover songs, as shown below.
Edit the cover song
After listening to the two cover songs, I like the second one more, but one section didn’t sound right. Some of the lines in verse 2 sounded rushed. To fix this, edit the song by clicking on “Open in Editor”.
With the editor open, you’ll see the song’s waveform, color-coded by section. Click on the section containing the lyrics you wan to edit. In this example, that’s the pink section shown below. When you click on it, the lyrics for the section will be selected in the lyrics box on the left. You can then type in revised lyrics in the “new lyrics” box below it. In this case, I made some of the lyrics shorter (fewer words).
Click the “Replace” button. Suno will generate two alternate versions of that section with the modified lyrics you provided. Click the play button beside each one to preview the alternate versions. If you don’t like either one, click “Regenerate” to generate more versions. When you like a version, click “Commit” to replace the section with the new section.
When you’re done editing, click “Save as new song”. The edited song will appear in your workspace.
You can then download the song.
Here’s the cover song in English. As you’ll hear, the backing instrumentals sound almost identical to the original French song, but the lyrics are new.