I have always been a fan of music. It has a way of touching the heart and motivating the emotions.

I've had dreams with full songs in them, and I've written a lot down — and lately I've taken time to do more than write lyrics. I've started writing my own music. It's a way for me to tell a story behind an emotion and connect with a feeling.

My aunt, who passed away years ago, always used to say that you wake up with a song in your head. Most people I say that to confirm they believe it's true. Both my sisters agree. So now I'll ask people: what song did you wake up with in your head? It's amazing what pops in there. I assume the connection runs to the subconscious — that what's in your dreams comes through in song, to express the emotions of whatever you're experiencing or working through.

So I chatted with an AI to see if I could highlight and research the patterns across songs. In theory, you could build the “perfect” song for people. A lot of people have started to dabble in AI music; I've had some interesting conversations about it, and I've done my fair share myself. But I always keep the source and the lyrics as my own, with a tune and a genre already in my head. I even produced an entire song with real musicians I paid — to get a full song from my head to my ears.

In that sense the AI is just the assistant. It is not, nor should it be, the creator. But it can understand humans and their patterns. Just look at the ten most-played songs of all time. The AI gave me five common patterns across them — but there was one in my head it missed completely: theme. And you see the split clearly, too, between the music and the lyrics. Music & Lyrics — great movie, by the way. It turns out researchers have built algorithms trying to do what the AI is already doing in music.

So I'd challenge an artist back: are you trying to express yourself, or are you trying to make a hit? The best connection has to be genuine — and frankly that has little to nothing to do with AI.

And when music and lyrics combine to touch your emotions, they can even motivate you. You can cry, or feel like you could scale a wall. That cannot be faked. It's what makes music special.

And the AI agreed — that in this lens, we're united:

“The most-played songs of all time are overwhelmingly about love and longing. Those are the feelings people most need help holding. The songs that stay aren't necessarily the cleverest — they're the ones that give people a reliable way back to something they feel but can't quite reach on their own.”