CoLyricist: Enhancing Lyric Writing with AI through Workflow-Aligned Support

TL;DR

CoLyricist is an AI-powered lyric writing tool that aligns with the natural workflow of lyricists, improving efficiency and creativity for both experienced and novice users by supporting key songwriting stages.

Contribution

This work introduces CoLyricist, a novel AI tool designed specifically to support each stage of the lyric writing process based on a formative study of lyricists' workflows.

Findings

Enhances songwriting efficiency for both novices and experts.

Novice users find Melody-Fitting particularly helpful.

Experienced users benefit most from Ideation support.

Abstract

We propose CoLyricist, an AI-assisted lyric writing tool designed to support the typical workflows of experienced lyricists and enhance their creative efficiency. While lyricists have unique processes, many follow common stages. Tools that fail to accommodate these stages challenge integration into creative practices. Existing research and tools lack sufficient understanding of these songwriting stages and their associated challenges, resulting in ineffective designs. Through a formative study involving semi-structured interviews with 10 experienced lyricists, we identified four key stages: Theme Setting, Ideation, Drafting Lyrics, and Melody Fitting. CoLyricist addresses these needs by incorporating tailored AI-driven support for each stage, optimizing the lyric writing process to be more seamless and efficient. To examine whether this workflow-aligned design also benefits those without prior experience, we conducted a user study with 16 participants, including both experienced and novice lyricists. Results showed that CoLyricist enhances the songwriting experience across skill levels. Novice users especially appreciated the Melody-Fitting feature, while experienced users valued the Ideation support.