Approve lyrics against a locked runtime, not a throwaway song
generate_lyrics returns text. generate_music then spends a track. Writing lyrics before picture lock, or scoring a miss with them, pays for words and a song the cut will not hold.
generate_lyrics writes words. It does not make audio. That is the review step before generate_music, and it is still not the first step of a video. Lyrics want a theme and a duration. A locked cut tells you whether you have room for a chorus or only a two-line hook. Writing a full verse for a picture that does not exist yet is how you then generate a song that will not fit, then generate another.
Write custom lyrics for background music is the job. Lyrics are typically a lighter call than a full track. The track is billed separately. Attachment is later still.
Text first is not picture last
The honest order is: picture (or a duration contract) → lyrics that fit that clock → music from those lyrics → attach. The inverted order is: lyrics → song → hunt for a video. That inversion is a music career. It is a bad ad pipeline.
People prompt lyrics first because the theme is the brief: "summer road trip." The brief is not 16 bars. The keeper is 9 seconds. Nine seconds of sung copy is a slogan, not a second verse. You learn that by looking at the cut.
Do not generate_music on lyrics you have not read. That is the whole point of this tool. Also do not generate_music on lyrics you have read if the picture is still a stack of misses. The song will orphan.
Lyric quality follows the prompt. Give direction. Then wait to hear it until the cut is real.
When lyrics are the right later step
- The plate is MOS or the VO will sit under a sung bed and you know the duck.
- Runtime is known.
- You actually need words in the music, not a pad. If you needed a pad, skip lyrics and prompt an instrumental.
Then generate_music with the approved text. Then attach_audio_to_video. If you needed a cover of an existing melody, you were in a different tool.
The AI music generator is the hearing half. This page is the reading half. Both wait on the cut.
FAQ
Can I stockpile lyrics for later videos?
You can stockpile themes in a doc. Paying generate_lyrics for six unmade videos is six tropes you will rewrite when the pictures exist. Write against a keeper.
Does generate_lyrics produce a demo?
No. Text only. Hearing it is generate_music. That is the call people run too early because they want to "feel it." Feel it after duration is known.
Should sung lyrics be captioned?
If the destination is silent-autoplay and the words matter, yes — on the locked mix, with a caption tool. Captioning a miss that does not yet have the song is empty.
What if the lyrics are good but the first generate_music is not?
Keep the text. Generate another track. Do not throw the lyrics away or attach the bad generate to a locked picture just because you already paid. The leak is attaching, not iterating a song against a stable cut.