Back to My Dreams
I see you watching me from afar
Your gaze on me feels like a shooting star
I’ve been dreaming of you in my head
I can’t help but wonder what it’d be like instead
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach it seems
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
You’re like the sun, shining bright in the sky
I’m drawn to you, but I’m too shy to try
I’m hoping that someday our paths will cross
And you’ll see me for who I am, not just some lost cause
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach it seems
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
I know that fate will bring us together
Until then, I’ll keep dreaming and praying forever
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach it seems
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Watch the Music Videos
Meet the Singers
Rachel Philipp
Singer / Songwriter
Rachel Philipp is a singer/songwriter from Pittsburgh. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Music, she is a composer, producer and vocalist. She has written music for hundreds of artists, DJs and commercial clients.
Nekane
Singer / Songwriter
Nekane Arce García is a full-time singer, songwriter and producer from Spain. As a solo artist, she has been creating music for over 10 years, releasing two EPs. She works across a wide variety of music genres.
About the Music Project
The two “Back to My Dreams” songs were created as a gift for my wife’s birthday. I contacted several singer/songwriters on the creative gig website Fiverr. Many musicians use the Fiverr platform to offer their services for creating music. After searching through many musician profiles, I settled on two artists: Rachel Philipp and Nekane. Both singers were highly rated and expressed interest when I contacted them about creating music.
I originally planned to have only one pop song produced. Since I wanted to work with both singers, I decided each would create their own pop song working independently of each other – both were given the same creative direction and the same set of lyrics. This was not a competition to pick one song over the other – my wife would have two songs created for her birthday.
Creative Brief
Create an approximately 3:00 minute song called "Back to My Dreams" with the provided lyrics in the "dream pop" music style, with influences of the synthwave genre, the band Cannons, and the Taylor Swift song "Wildest Dreams".
Musical Influences
Musical Influences
Cannons
Song Influences
While Cannons and their particular brand of indie-pop were the main influence for these custom songs, I also gave a few specific song influences, including the lyrics, vocal style, and basic chords from a very popular and well-known artist: Taylor Swift.
The song I referenced in the Creative Brief is Taylor Swift’s song “Wildest Dreams” from her 1989 album, which also happens to be one of her early forays into dream pop and synth-pop. (Swift would later release more synth-pop, including her 2022 album Midnights.)
For this custom dreampop song, I wanted the influence of “Wildest Dreams” (my favorite Taylor Swift song), especially with regards to Swift’s particular “breathy” vocal style – for example, they way she sings “ah-ahh, haa..” during the chorus in the track. I also mentioned the basic chord structure from the song, C Em D G Am, as a starting point for music inspiration.
Song Influences
Taylor Swift "Wildest Dreams"
Lyrical Influences
Continuing the influence of the pop hit “Wildest Dreams”, I wanted this “bespoke” song to feature lyrics that invoked the same type of mood as the Swift song. Those lyrics describe Swift’s plea for her lover to remember her despite the inevitable end of their relationship.
That theme of remembering past loves resonated with me. My wife and I dated in college in the 1990s, went our separate ways after graduating, and reconnected many years later, and eventually got married. She and I have had many discussions about “what if” we had stayed together instead of living different lives over so many years. Which made me wonder…
What if this song, which I decided to title "Back to My Dreams", told the story from the perspective of a woman wondering what life had could have been like with her long lost love, dreaming about it over many years of being apart?
So I imagined this new song as a “spiritual sequel” lyrically to “Wildest Dreams”. But who should write the lyrics? Both Rachel Philipp and Nekane would have been more than capable to include lyric writing as part of their work, but I decided to employ a different lyricist instead.
Meet the Lyricist
ChatGPT
AI Chat Bot
AI Generated Lyrics
Rather than try to write lyrics myself, I wanted to see what artificial intelligence (AI) could create for me. Using an AI chat bot, called ChatGPT, I gave it instructions, called prompts, to see how well it generates song lyrics. What follows is the transcript of the “conversation” I had with ChatGPT. The chat bot arrived at the final lyrics for the song Back to My Dreams in three prompts.
ChatGPT Conversation
ChatGPT:
Verse 1:
Sandy, oh Sandy, you light up my mind
The way you move, it’s like dancing through time
I see you in my dreams, I hear you in my head
But in real life, you’re just out of reach instead
Chorus:
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
Verse 2:
Sandy, oh Sandy, you’re like a summer breeze
A gentle touch, a whisper in the trees
I know you’re out there, somewhere in this world
But the thought of finding you, it makes my heart swirl
Chorus:
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
Bridge:
I know we’ll meet someday, it’s just a matter of time
Until then, I’ll keep dreaming, and hoping you’ll be mine
Chorus:
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
Outro:
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
Sandy, Sandy, won’t you come to me?
ChatGPT:
Verse 1:
I see you watching me from afar
Your gaze on me feels like a shooting star
I’ve been dreaming of you in my head
I can’t help but wonder what it’d be like instead
Chorus:
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
Verse 2:
You’re like the sun, shining bright in the sky
I’m drawn to you, but I’m too shy to try
I’m hoping that someday our paths will cross
And you’ll see me for who I am, not just some lost cause
Chorus:
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
Bridge:
I know that fate will bring us together
Until then, I’ll keep dreaming and praying forever
Chorus:
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
Outro:
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
Oh, darling, won’t you come to me?
ChatGPT:
Verse 1:
I see you watching me from afar
Your gaze on me feels like a shooting star
I’ve been dreaming of you in my head
I can’t help but wonder what it’d be like instead
Chorus:
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach it seems
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Verse 2:
You’re like the sun, shining bright in the sky
I’m drawn to you, but I’m too shy to try
I’m hoping that someday our paths will cross
And you’ll see me for who I am, not just some lost cause
Chorus:
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach it seems
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Bridge:
I know that fate will bring us together
Until then, I’ll keep dreaming and praying forever
Chorus:
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
I’m falling fast, but you’re still out of reach it seems
I’ll dream of you tonight, and every night it seems
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Outro:
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Won’t you come to me in my dreams?
Meet the Cover Artist
Leonardo.AI
AI Image Generator
AI Generated Art & Video
In addition to lyrics, I also used AI to generate album cover artwork. Using the site Leonardo.Ai, I created artwork using AI text prompts. Example:
A dreamy, synthwave-inspired landscape of a beautiful woman’s silhouette reaching for a sky full of clouds, with a single star in the sky representing the hope of reuniting with a lost love.
This generated many interesting images, which were refined via AI prompts, until I landed on the “Back to My Dreams” cover artwork.
While Leonardo.Ai was used to create the “Back to My Dreams” cover artwork, I used a different online AI art generator website to create a music video: Kaiber.
Kaiber allows you to use AI to generate a video based on an initial image, AI prompts, and most importantly, an audio music file. As their website puts it: Upload a song, define your subject and style, and create the music video of your dreams.
I uploaded the “Back to My Dreams” artwork (generated by Leonardo.ai) as the music video starting image, the mp3 audio file of “Back to My Dreams” song by Nekane, and gave it the following AI prompt:
A (beautiful woman:1.3) with (red hair:1.2) and (blue green eyes:1.1), surrounded by a background sky full of (colorful clouds:1.1) with a (single star in the sky:1.2) representing the hope of reuniting with a (mysterious handsome man:1.2) who is her long lost love, highly detailed, smooth, in the style of 3D, octane render, 8k, ray-tracing, synthwave, dream-like.
The keywords in the AI prompt with parenthesis and numbers – Example: (red hair: 1.2) – tell the AI engine to give more or less weight to those descriptions when generating the video.
Meet the Video Artist
Kaiber
AI Video Generator
Project Summary
Rachel Philipp and Nekane each composed a wonderful dream pop song that captured the mood, feeling, and style I was looking for. Although they were each given the same outline and creative direction, each applied their own talents, song writing, and creativity to create unique musical compositions.
I enjoyed supplementing their talents by experimenting with AI to generate lyrics, artwork, and even a music video. I appreciate all their hard work in creating a wonderful birthday present for my beautiful wife.