written by Emily Faulks
I found a video of a content creator explaining how to create playlists using ChatGPT with a few prompts. I have recently hit a few dead ends from Spotify’s song and artist radios, so I took to the AI generator for a new playlist based on some songs I have been enjoying.
The prompt was tweaked several times but this is ultimately the first direction I gave Chat GPT that generated this playlist:
“I want you to act as a song recommender. I will provide you with three songs and a description and you will create a playlist of 30 songs that are similar to the given song. You should also provide a name for this playlist. Do not choose songs that are the same name or artist. Do not write any explanations or other words, just reply with the playlist name and the songs.”
After it responded asking for the names and descriptions, I gave Chat GPT three songs that I think are similar but not something that can be found on a singular Spotify radio station. I took a description from a previous ChatGPT prompt and used it to try to get a more accurate recommendation:
“Here are the songs: “Sleep Drifter” by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, “Su Siziyor” by Altin Gün, “Miss Modular” by Stereolab. and here is the description: A mix of psychedelic and world music with elements of rock, funk, and electronic beats. Get lost in the rhythm and let your body move to the hypnotic beats.”
The response was far from perfect with the majority of the recommendations to be literally nonexistent eg. “Cape Town Love” by Fat Freddy’s Drop. This was something I told ChatGPT to correct, however, it was unable to 100% accurately recommend songs that matched with artists’ discography. Another error was that some recommendations were completely off base. For example, the band Town Portal came up with other ambient musicians that were sprinkled in throughout the playlist and proved to be less upbeat and groovy than I would have liked.
BUT… I did find a lot of good music by typing in the artist and the songs separately and listening to those– a lengthier process, but worth it! My favorite find was when ChatGPT recommended “Soul of a Village (Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra Remix)” by Patchwork, which (surprise), does not exist. I typed in the phrase and the band Patchwork came up. I chose their most popular song entitled “Kyre Mwen- Patchworks Remix” and basked in the hypnotic beats that I have been eagerly awaiting!
Ultimately, I am not tech savvy, nor am I an experienced ChatGPT user, so maybe there’s a lot of learning for both AI and myself to master the art of playlist-making. At least I took away a few gems from multiple playlists it generated throughout my many prompts and guesses on its errors. Below is the painfully inaccurate last list of recommendations and my playlist further down. Enjoy, humans.
- “African Rhythms” by Oneness of Juju
- “Funky Kingston” by Toots & The Maytals
- “Istanbul 70” by Erkin Koray
- “Black Balloons Reprise” by Flying Lotus ft. Denzel Curry
- “Oscillations” by Silver Apples
- “Cape Town Love” by Fat Freddy’s Drop
- “Borderline with My Atoms” by Altın Gün
- “Can’t Leave the Night” by BADBADNOTGOOD
- “Ain’t Got No – I Got Life” by Nina Simone
- “Lungs” by Town Portal
- “Chant to Mother Earth” by Santana
- “Wicked” by Beats Antique
- “The Guru” by The Bombay Royale
- “Vive La Vida” by Chico Mann & Captain Planet
- “The Formula” by The Daktaris
- “Avrupa” by Baba Zula
- “Say Hey” by Michael Franti & Spearhead
- “Kalanlar” by Grup Ses & Elektro Hafız
- “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron
- “Lebanese Blonde” by Thievery Corporation
- “Spirals” by Tame Impala
- “Losin’ My Mind” by Khruangbin
- “Voyage Libre” by Rodion G.A.
- “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)” by Charles Bradley
- “Let’s Go Away for Awhile” by The Beach Boys
- “Maghreb” by The Spy From Cairo
- “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” by Talking Heads
- “Somewhere Down the Road” by Little Axe
- “The Sun” by Parquet Courts
- “You’re a Germ” by Wolf Alice
