Suno AI Lyrics: How to Avoid Common Clichés

Ever noticed your Suno AI songs keep mentioning "neon lights," "whispering echoes," or the triumphant call to "rise above"? You're not alone. While Suno is a powerful creative tool, it can sometimes fall back on lyrical clichés, making your music sound a bit predictable.

Let's explore why this happens and, more importantly, how you can steer the AI toward more original and compelling lyrics.

Why Suno AI Loves a Good Cliché

There are two main reasons for this lyrical repetition, and neither is an intentional flaw. It's simply the nature of how large language models (LLMs) work.

1. The Echo Chamber of Training Data: Suno's AI was trained on a massive library of existing music. As one user aptly puts it, "Songs use these words a lot, AI was trained on songs, so you end up with these words in your AI songs." The model learns patterns from this data, and common lyrical themes are one of the strongest patterns it picks up.

2. The Nature of Predictive Text: At its core, an LLM is a sophisticated predictive text engine. It generates lyrics by calculating the most probable word to come next. Clichés are, by definition, familiar and high-probability phrases, making them a safe and easy choice for the AI. It's not using creative reasoning; it's playing the odds based on its training.

The Usual Suspects: A Cliché Hit List

Keep an ear out for these frequently used phrases:

• Neon lights
• Whispering woods / Whispers in the wind
• Rise above
• Concrete jungle
• A new story unfolds
• Echoes of [something]
• In your embrace
• Let your spirit soar

Your Toolkit for Crafting Original Lyrics

Now for the good part: taking control. Here are four powerful strategies to guide Suno away from the generic and toward the unique.

Strategy 1: Get Specific with Your Prompts

This is your most direct line of defense. The more specific your instructions, the less room the AI has for clichés. Explicitly tell the AI what to avoid.

A great technique is iterative prompting. After a generation, you can reply with a command like:

"This is good, but generate it again and don't use the words 'echoes' or 'neon'."

Strategy 2: Become the Editor

Don't expect the first generation to be a finished masterpiece. Use the AI to create a rough draft, then step in as the human editor. Manually replace overused words, rephrase awkward lines, and inject your personal style. Think of the AI as your co-writer, not the final author.

Strategy 3: Master the Human-AI Partnership

Combine the AI's speed with your creativity. Use Suno for brainstorming initial concepts, generating rhyme schemes, or exploring imagery. Once you have a foundation, take the reins. As one creator advises, "AI is ok for directions for imagery or the odd rhyme but you have to DIY at this level of capability."

Strategy 4: Train Your AI Assistant (like ChatGPT)

If you use an external tool like ChatGPT to write your lyrics before bringing them to Suno, you can train it to follow specific rules. ChatGPT can remember instructions within a single session. Start your process by giving it a set of rules:

"For this session, I want you to act as a lyricist. Please put all section titles in brackets, like [Verse] or [Chorus]. Also, you must avoid the following cliché words: rise, soar, echo, whisper, neon, embrace."

This pre-training gives you a much cleaner starting point for Suno.

Pro-Tips for Polished Lyrics

• Use a Thesaurus: If you're stuck on a word or notice repetition, use a thesaurus or rhyming dictionary to find fresh alternatives.
• Try Different Models: Some users have noted that different AI models or platforms might have different lyrical habits. Experimenting can yield diverse results.
• Stay Updated: AI is constantly evolving. Keep an eye on updates from Suno, as future models will likely be even better at producing varied and original content.

By treating Suno AI as a powerful but guidable instrument, you can move beyond the clichés and start creating songs that are truly your own.