The brief that made the song at the top
The example above this section was typed into Simple mode, with no lyrics, exactly as shown here. The finished song runs 3:52 and sings the name eight times, at the start and end of every chorus. “Just moved to Lisbon” became yellow trams and a tiny balcony without anyone asking for them; one concrete detail is worth a paragraph of adjectives.
The prompt that made it
“A warm acoustic birthday song for my sister Mia, who just moved to Lisbon. Female vocal, handclaps and guitar, hopeful and a little funny.”
Who, one thing that happened this year, a voice, two instruments, a mood. Eight repetitions of the name, all sung, none read out.
The prompt that made it
“Happy birthday to you / Happy birthday to you / Happy birthday dear friend / Happy birthday to you”
The traditional four lines pasted into Custom mode. The engine sang exactly what it was given, and what it was given lasts fifteen seconds. Pasted lyrics decide the length.
What a month of birthday songs looks like
Counted in every main language people write in here — “cumpleaños”, “aniversário” and “anniversaire” as well as “birthday” — birthday songs are about one request in twenty on Tunely, and about half of them start from lyrics the person brought rather than a description.
| What birthday requests did, 4 September to 4 October | Share |
|---|---|
| Started from lyrics the person brought | about 1 in 2 |
| Said how fast, in the description or style line | about 1 in 12 |
| Made by visitors who had not signed up yet | a little over 1 in 2 |
| Made with the Instrumental switch on | about 1 in 30 |
| Finished length, measured from the files | 3:18 at the median; eight in ten between 1:55 and 5:06 |
It is easy to fill a birthday brief with adjectives — happy, upbeat, warm, anthem — and leave out the person. The briefs that produce songs people actually send are the ones with a name and a detail, not the ones with the most adjectives.
Getting the name sung, and sung right
The name is sung whenever it is in the brief; it goes wrong only when it is missing or when it is spelled in a way that reads differently from how it sounds. Three habits fix nearly every case.
- Put the name in the brief once and ask for it in the chorus: “sing her name in the chorus”. Asking is the surest way to get it there.
- For a name that is pronounced unexpectedly, spell it the way it sounds, in brackets, right after it. Nobody sees the brief except you.
- For two people who share the day, name both and say they share it; both names land in the chorus.
Length, and the pasted-lyrics trap
Birthday songs here run 3:18 at the median, and eight in ten land between 1:55 and 5:06. A song made from pasted lyrics is as long as the lyrics, and about half of birthday requests bring lyrics: four traditional lines are where the fifteen-second songs come from. If you want the traditional lines in there, keep them as the chorus and write two verses about the person around them; if you only have the four lines, describe the song instead and let the engine write around them.
Giving it
The song is usually ready about a minute after Create, with a preview after 20 to 30 seconds, so there is time even on the day itself. Share the link for free, with no watermark. To hand over a file, keeping the MP3 is $1.99 per song on the free plan and included on Pro and Ultra. For something to watch, the music video takes a photo of the birthday person and sings twenty seconds of the chorus with the lyrics on screen; it is a one-time purchase and takes ten to twenty minutes to render.
Before you press Create
- The name is in the brief, spelled the way it sounds, and the brief asks for it in the chorus.
- One thing they did this year, or one thing they always say.
- A voice and a pace: “female vocal, upbeat” or “a warm male voice, slow”.
- If you are pasting lyrics, there are enough of them: four lines make a 15-second song, about thirty make three minutes.
- You have decided how it will be delivered: link, MP3, or a video with their photo.
Sources
Written and fact-checked by the Tunely team · Updated