1010Benja details Suno role in new song “Semiramis’ Dream”
The musician told Hearing Things he used Suno openly on a new EP track, raising familiar questions about AI’s place in recorded music.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
1010Benja has acknowledged using Suno to help make “Semiramis’ Dream,” the opening track from his new EP, “Time Has Nothing To Do With What You Choose…”. The disclosure adds a concrete example to the fight over generative AI in music, where artists are weighing access to new tools against ethical and environmental concerns.
In an interview with Hearing Things, 1010Benja said collaborator Patrick Holder made the beat and that he recorded the vocals before the material was run through Suno. He said the track was then taken into Ableton for editing and sent back into Suno again, with the final release labeled as AI-generated on Deezer.
“We’re not hiding it. We don’t feel any shame about it,” 1010Benja told Hearing Things.
The Verge reported that 1010Benja wrote the lyrics, sang the vocal parts and worked with collaborators before using Suno as part of an iterative production process. According to The Verge, he estimated that “Semiramis’ Dream” went through the cycle a few hundred times.
The track stands apart from many Suno-made songs because it includes a clear human performance at its center, The Verge’s Terrence O’Brien wrote. O’Brien described the song as built around a jungle beat, with 1010Benja’s voice placed prominently in the mix.
The Verge also noted that the song’s more synthetic elements can be difficult to separate from current pop production habits. The AI-assisted backing vocals, according to O’Brien, are folded into fast vocal edits and heavy processing associated with hyperpop and related styles.
Artist cites cost and ambition
1010Benja told Hearing Things that he does not see his use of generative AI as free of consequences. He acknowledged environmental concerns tied to AI systems and described the broader corporate push behind the technology in bleak terms, saying, “The good guy doesn’t win this one.”
He also said he turned to generative AI because the sounds he wanted were beyond his budget. In the same Hearing Things interview, he mocked the idea that he could have hired a professional children’s choir, and said he had not paid rent the previous month and would not pay it in the current month.
The Verge reported that 1010Benja has faced periods of homelessness, even as his 2024 album “Ten Total” drew praise. Pitchfork gave “Ten Total” its Best New Music designation, according to The Verge.
O’Brien wrote that the other three songs on “Time Has Nothing To Do With What You Choose…” do not match “Ten Total,” but singled out “Semiramis’ Dream” as the strongest use of the AI-assisted approach. He also argued that many of the song’s effects might have been possible without Suno through layered vocals and processing.
The release gives critics of AI music another test case because 1010Benja is neither concealing the tool nor presenting the result as a fully automated work. Hearing Things and The Verge both frame the song as a hybrid production: human writing, singing and arrangement shaped by repeated passes through generative software.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.