A while back I saw Rick Beato in a YouTube video where he was part of a CBS Saturday Morning story on AI in music. The prompt he gave Suno was minimal, and the song it produced was actually quite good—good enough that listeners were asking who the artist was and how they could follow them.
That stuck with me.
Since then, I set up a Suno account and started playing around. I published a few songs that have had zero listens other than me, which is perfectly fine—it was more about experimenting than anything else.
Fast forward to today. I was going through my Google Drive and came across a Word document titled “Which Way To Turn.” It felt a little ominous given it was written back during the pandemic. I’ve always used my keyboard as a kind of sounding board—a way to get thoughts out of my head when they need somewhere to go.
When I opened it, I found a rough poem. Something about turning to faith when you don’t know where else to turn.
Here’s what I had written back then:
Which Way to Turn
Faith lost,
Dreams cost,
Broken and broke,
Then He spoke.
Turn the page,
There is a way,
Hope is found,
Within His Crown.
End the curse,
From within the verse,
Trust the words,
They must be heard.
See the Light,
Without fright,
See the Light,
In His Sight,
See the Light.
In the Light,
His Way is clear,
Hold Him dear,
And let Him steer.
You know the way to turn.
I fed the lyrics into Suno and got a short, coffee shop–style tune that ran about a minute. Then I asked Suno to take those lyrics and expand on them—building it out into a full song and developing a specific section into a chorus.
The version it came back with stayed surprisingly true to my original intent, but expanded it into something much more complete:
Expanded Version (Suno)
[Verse 1]
Faith lost, Dreams cost
Broken and broke, then He spoke
I was staring at the road
With a heavy, vacant load
Turn the page, there is a way
Hope is found, within His Crown
I was low, but not alone
When His voice called me home
[Pre-Chorus]
End the curse, from within the verse
Trust the words, they must be heard
I was reaching for the door
Then I heard a peace I’d never known before
[Chorus]
See the Light
Without fright
See the Light
In His Sight
See the Light
See the Light
I can breathe, I can start
Hold me close, hold my heart
[Verse 2]
Dust on my hands, tears on my face
Still He met me in that place
Every wrong that I could name
Didn’t turn His love away
He took the fear, He took the blame
Wrote a new name in my shame
Now the night don’t pull me under
I can hear His mercy thunder
[Pre-Chorus]
End the curse, from within the verse
Trust the words, they must be heard
When the shadows try to rise
I remember where the promise lies
[Chorus]
See the Light
Without fright
See the Light
In His Sight
See the Light
See the Light
I can breathe, I can start
Hold me close, hold my heart
[Bridge]
In the Light, His Way is clear
Hold Him dear, and let Him steer
You know the way to turn
When the whole wide world won’t answer
You know the way
When the fire starts to fade
You know the way to turn
[Final Chorus]
See the Light
Without fright
See the Light
In His Sight
See the Light
See the Light
Now I know, now I’m free
His strong hand is leading me
See the Light
See the Light
You know the way to turn
Whether I could have taken those original words and turned them into something like this on my own is something I’ll probably never be able to answer. But I will say this—I think the result is pretty good.
What really surprised me was how varied the musical interpretations were. The same lyrics ranged from a simple coffee shop-style tune to something that sounded like it could come from an Elevation Church praise & worship set. The current capabilities of Suno (5.5) are honestly a bit mind-blowing.
For context, I’m not a singer or a music producer. My closest connection to music is probably growing up in the 60s and 70s, and DJ’ing at a roller rink in the early 80s—and then again from 2006 to 2021 for an 80s night at another rink.
When it comes to prompting Suno, I’m not great at it. I tend to fall back on referencing a particular artist or a basic genre. Even then, it sometimes feels like Suno has a bit of a telepathic connection into what I’m aiming for—as long as I don’t push the experimental slider too far.
It’s a strange feeling hearing something that feels like it came from you… but also didn’t.
All that said, here are some links to the published songs on Suno for your review. I would also say, if you have some old writings like poems or lyrics languishing in your cloud drive, dust them off and have some fun with Suno.
- Initial version with enhanced lyrics: “Which Way To Turn” Coffee Shop 1 (Suno) (Local Video File)
- Initial version with enhanced lyrics: “Which Way To Turn” Coffee Shop 2 (Suno) (Local Video File)
- Worship team version with enhanced lyrics: “Which Way To Turn” Option 1 (Suno) (Local Video File)
- Worship team version with enhanced lyrics: “Which Way To Turn” Option 2 (Suno) (Local Video File)
If you are brave enough to venture into the other songs I have posted, here is my Suno profile link.