The Warmth You Bring

"The Warmth You Bring" represents a journey in AI-assisted music creation, exploring themes of anxiety and catharsis within a deep house framework.

This song sounded quite different when it was first conceived. The seed for the final version was arrived at after 300 different remixes were generated, of which 15 were considered candidate versions, and one was selected for further development.

The primary goal in the initial remixing process was broader appeal, perhaps suitable for both club and wedding settings. Typically, I don't create songs with a purpose in mind of being "popular," as popularity often means reducing originality and sounding like the many other "copied and pasted" songs regularly played on the radio.

Through feedback and discussion with Gemini Pro 2.5, a more specific and potent theme emerged: capturing the internal experience of overcoming severe social anxiety specifically through the enveloping power of music and the atmosphere of a dance floor. Even if you don't suffer from the diagnosed mental illness of social anxiety, you can probably recall school dances where everyone stood around, looking at each other, afraid to get into the groove.

Using the keyword "dorian" in models is a key for magic. While the end product here doesn't retain much of the original Dorian mode, the next song "Can You Trust Me?" will use the mode significantly to demonstrate how using this mode, which is uncommon in popular music, can make a song stand out.

The final chorus section incorporates layered vocal ad-libs ("Can't let go," "Feel the warmth," etc.), adding a layer of euphoric, improvisational energy that signifies the culmination of the protagonist's journey to liberation.

Finally, the artwork was generated using Midjourney v7, with prompts specifically designed through collaboration with the AI to capture the song's abstract essence: the transition from cool, fractured darkness (anxiety) to a pulsing, warm, rhythmic golden light (release), rendered with a sophisticated, atmospheric aesthetic appropriate for the genre.

One final note: this song was created using Udio 1.5, with its new "styles" feature for the first time. "Styles" uses an existing piece of music as the prompt, rather than a traditional text prompt. Where used, the text prompt was "sub bass, dorian, emotional, atmospheric, polyrhythm, deep house," and "Souls Align" was used as the "Styles" prompt. By using the the styled prompt first, fewer keywords (compared to the 20+ used in most songs) were required to maintain the atmosphere throughout the rest of the piece.

If played on low-quality headphones with inferior bass response, some of the harmony may be lost, making the track sound as if it isn't progressing forward. Play it on a system with a subwoofer to hear its intended effect.