Say ‘AI’ Do: The World’s First AI First Dance Song

The first dance tradition has existed for hundreds of years, beginning when the guest of honour would open the dance floor for the other guests at a ball.

Nowadays it is an expected part of the big day, symbolising the joining of two families and allowing guests to celebrate the newlywed couple.

If you’ve been a guest at a few weddings, you may have noticed that couples often choose the same songs for their first dance. This is because many of these songs have the ability to speak the language of love, causing couples all over the world to be drawn to them.

From their promise-filled lyrics to their emotional melodies, first dance songs make people feel like the song was made for them.

Songs like "Can’t Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley or "At Last" by Etta James are timeless examples of this. They convey sentiments that transcend time, echoing the same emotions that couples have felt for generations.

These songs are not merely background music while a newlywed couple shares a first dance, they are a part of the moment and speak a thousand words… They become the soundtrack of their new chapter together.

We decided to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to combine elements of the most popular wedding songs, in an attempt to create the ultimate first dance song, showing couples that it's possible to create a unique, personalised song from scratch.

To do this we analysed 10 of the most popular first dance songs that couples choose for their special day. These included timeless classics and modern hits:

• "At Last" – Etta James

• "Can’t Help Falling in Love" – Elvis Presley

• "Baby I’m Yours" – Arctic Monkeys

• "Let’s Stay Together" – Al Green

• "Just You And I" – Tom Walker

• "Perfect" – Ed Sheeran

• "A Thousand Years" – Christina Perri

• "Your Song" – Elton John

• "All Of Me" – John Legend

• "Better Half Of Me" – Tom Walker

All of these songs share certain elements that make them popular, for example lyrics that talk about destiny and how the couple is meant to be together, or a simplicity that lets couples interpret and relate to the lyrics in their own way.

All of these songs touch upon commitment, too. Songs such as “Stand By Me”, “Baby I’m Yours” and “Let’s Stay Together” are perfect examples of this, encapsulating the promise that newlywed couples make to remain together through thick and thin, making them an even more perfect choice for a first dance song.

Lyrics

By exploring the top ten first dance songs and identifying the elements that make them so special we were able to give this information to ChatGPT to create the ultimate first dance song lyrics. Whilst the sentiments expressed in our first dance song are universal, lyrics could easily be personalised with a couple's first names or shared memories.

Music

Since there isn't yet a single AI tool that can create a fully fledged song at the touch of a button, we brought in composing and music production duo Tim Clarke and Adam Shaw to put together a track using a combination of AI-based production tools. These included: Sounddraw to create the backing track, Audiocipher to spit out melodies and Voicify to generate the vocal tone.

As prompts for their AI tools, Adam and Tim inputted the musical attributes we'd identified as being common to many first dance songs – a major key, a simple verse-chorus song structure, and a male singer modelled on that king of first dance songs, Ed Sheeran. (Disclosure: some human interaction was required to edit, mix and master the track).

Video

Finally, we used Neuralframes, an AI-based text-to-video tool, to create the music video. We used keywords from our song lyrics as prompts and Neuralframes converted them into animations modelled on our favourite visual artists.

The result? A modern first dance anthem for the AI age titled "Forever Entwined"!

The lyrics speak of undying love, moments that transcend the confines of time, and the promise of forever, while the song itself features a soft piano-led introduction, with a modern beat crescendoing with a full ensemble, and tapering off to a serene ending, reminiscent of timeless classics.

You may be wondering why we chose to use AI to help us create this song. The truth is that we live in an era where technology is intertwined like never before and we wanted to harness that to see how well it performs as a musician and songwriter.

Couples, younger ones in particular, are looking for unique wedding ideas and ways to modernise traditions. First dances are one of the traditions that are here to stay, according to recent data from YouGov, so with this in mind it makes sense to embrace new technology. AI offers a bridge between the old and new, preserving the traditional first dance with a modern twist.

We will likely see more of AI’s influence in weddings over the next few years. We’ve already seen wedding vows written by ChatGPT, so if you’re planning your wedding right now perhaps you could be one of the first to share your first dance with a unique AI love song.

Would you choose our song written by AI for your first dance?