“Write the lyrics of a Christmas song in the style of Steven Wilson. Do not use the word Christmas. Coldness and loneliness must be felt.”
With these three simple instructions, Steven Wilson asked ChatGPT to write a Christmas-themed song, which he then set to music and released under the title “December Skies.”
The Porcupine Tree musician took on the challenge from a friend who wondered why he had never recorded a Christmas song. Wilson replied that it wasn’t his style, and the friend suggested using ChatGPT. “I was shocked at how immediate the process was and how easy it was to guide,” said Wilson.
Regarding the general use of AI in music, his instinctive reaction is to consider it a threat to musicians. However, he acknowledges that it’s a phenomenon that won’t disappear, so this experiment is an attempt to make the tool his own and integrate it into the creative process. “And, of course, to have fun doing something I would never have done otherwise.”
Here is “December Skies,” accompanied by a video created with the help of an artificial intelligence image system, incorporating images from Wilson’s previous music videos into 2D and 3D backgrounds.