Art and music merge into one. The two just go together. One of the most exciting and fun applications of Midjourney is the ability to turn song lyrics into mind-melting art.
How do you do this?
It’s simple.
Just enter a song lyric as your Midjourney prompt. That’s it.
In this post, I’m going to show you awesome examples of how Midjourney can bring song lyrics to life.
The result is an incredible piece of art. The only caveat is this: Midjourney is quite literal. Song lyrics, often, are not. So if you try a lyric that is entirely a metaphor, then you’ll probably be sadly disappointed with your new art. I had to experiment with different types of lyrics until I found ones that were mainly literal and somewhat metaphorical.
Midjourney is not the only AI tool that can do this. However, it’s my AI art tool of choice for now, so that’s what I used. Do you have a problem with that?
Fun fact: no two pieces of Midjourney art will ever be exactly the same, making each creation truly one-of-a-kind.
Let’s begin…
Midjourney Lyrics Prompt #1: 40 Oz. to Freedom
Copy/Paste:
Life is one big question when you’re staring at the clock.
Artist: Sublime
Song: 40 Oz. to Freedom
Wow. Midjourney nailed this one.
My personal favorite is the one on the top-left, but I wanted to share the whole grid so you could see all four variations that the tool spit out. These really do a great job at depicting the lyrics.
The only one that is a bit too literal and not-so-good is the one on the top-right. The woman is literally just staring at clocks, bored, while questioning her boring, stupid life. The good news? The other three images made up for it.
Midjourney Lyrics Prompt #2: Heart-Shaped Box
Copy/Paste:
I’ve been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks.
Artist: Nirvana
Song: Heart-Shaped Box
It looks grungy and fits in pretty nice with Nirvana’s style. This is a coincidence, as Midjourney does not know that these lyrics are from Nirvana. It doesn’t know song lyrics…period.
There is a heart-shaped box inside of a box, which isn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it gets the job done. The graffiti and rust on the sides of the box add to the dirty, often muddy sound of the song.
Midjourney Lyrics Prompt #3: Lateralus
Copy/Paste:
We’ll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one’s been.
Artist: Tool
Song: Lateralus
One of my favorite song quotes gets visualized nicely as a giant algae-covered spiral in the middle of the jungle that travels down into a mysterious jet black hole. If Tool were to create this themselves, they’d probably make it less colorful and a lot darker, but this is still surreal enough to impress even them.
Midjourney produced several other images that were similar to this, but most of them were just way too creepy. There’s something about these lyrics that made the machine a little mad. And we don’t want that.
Midjourney Lyrics Prompt #4: The Sky is a Neighborhood
Copy/Paste:
The sky is a neighborhood.
Artist: Foo Fighters
Song: The Sky is a Neighborhood
This is another one of my favorite music quotes. Out of all the images on this page, this one is easily the most literal in terms of translation. But the art style is thought provoking and reminiscent of some type of 3D episode of The Simpsons. It’s cool. It’s the type of art that could be hung on a wall, inside of your house, in your own neighborhood.
Midjourney Lyrics Prompt #5: Bullet w/ Butterfly Wings
Copy/Paste:
The world is a vampire.
Artist: Smashing Pumpkins
Song: Bullet with Butterfly Wings
This could be a gothic or heavy metal t-shirt design. Or an album cover. It’s a bit weird and borderline terrifying, but not all art is butterflies and dandelions, okay? Midjourney knows this, and you should too.
If you’ve ever heard this song, then you’ll probably agree that it goes pretty well with its vibe.
Midjourney Lyrics Prompt #5: Evangeline
Copy/Paste:
Depressed man laying on the ocean’s beach, at night, giant moon above, phantasmal iridescent, black background –ar 3:2 –v 5
Artist: Highly Suspect
Song: Evangeline
I saved the makeshift prompt for last. I wanted to create one for Highly Suspect really bad. I tried everything. Midjourney kept giving me the finger.
So I described one of their songs the way I thought it would look visually.
If your quote doesn’t produce what you want, I suggest you try this as well. It’s actually more fun because you can get really creative with your prompt. Just describe what you think in your mind when you listen to the song, and see if the tool’s output lines up with your vision. Rinse and repeat.
Wrapping It Up
I really want you to really think about the creative applications of this. You could use it to create unique album covers for your favorite bands or artists. You could create custom art for your home (or trailer, or parent’s basement…whatever you’re working with, I guess). You could craft the perfect, customizable gift for someone who loves music. Or for someone who hates music, just to make them mad. Lastly, like anything created in Midjourney, you could plug it into Photoshop and really make some magic happen.
Let me know what you were able to create with song lyrics in Midjourney in the comments below. You probably won’t, but who knows, maybe you will. Thanks for reading, and remember to prompt the planet.
