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How a Teen Uses AI to Turn Lyrics Into Songs (Middle School and up)

AI for Kids | Sep 29 2026 | 00:21:44

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A teen writes the lyrics, AI builds the sound, and suddenly a song that used to live only in her head can play out loud. That’s the creative shift we dig into with Rachel Schaub, a 17-year-old songwriter who’s using AI music tools to move faster, stay inspired, and keep making pop tracks even without a full band or studio.

We talk through Rachel’s real workflow step by step: how she starts with a song title, drafts her own lyrics, then uses Suno to generate the music and refine the style until it matches what she imagined. She also shares how she uses ChatGPT for song title ideas that feel aligned with the artists she loves while still keeping her work original. Along the way, we play a couple of quick games to pressure-test what should stay human, what can be AI-assisted, and where the line is between a helpful sidekick and letting AI take over.

We also hit the safety and ethics that families need to know, including a clear reminder about minors and AI voice training: if you’re under 18, you can’t use your own voice to train AI, so you’ll need parent involvement or different approaches. Rachel, who lives with autism, talks about confidence, performance, and her best advice for young creators with big ideas: find the one thing that starts your journey, and write ideas down before they disappear.

Check out Rachel and her music:

https://rachelschaub.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5j1ZERBGZ7otAa893wDGdY
https://www.youtube.com/@rachelschaub1

New York to Chicago Song:
https://youtu.be/AMlENtbLviM?is=23DlZYiREn1dhesj

Subscribe, share this with a young creator in your life, and leave a review with your take: where do you want AI to help most in the songwriting process?

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