I promised to be open about my creative process, and that means talking honestly about something that has become one of my favorite parts of making music in 2026: collaborating with Claude AI on lyrics.

I know this is a topic with strong feelings on all sides. I know some people bristle at the idea. I understand that reaction and I’m not going to dismiss it. What I will do is tell you exactly what our collaboration actually looks like, and then you can form your own opinion.

Here’s the truth: I come with the idea. Always. I show up knowing the emotional territory — the feeling I want to evoke, the story I want to tell, the angle that feels true. I might have a title, a hook, a rough verse. What I need is a thinking partner who can help me shape it, push it further, find the right word when I’m circling around it, and tell me when something isn’t working yet.

That’s what Claude does. It’s fast, it’s thoughtful, and it never gets tired at 11pm when I’m still workshopping a bridge. We go back and forth. I push back when something doesn’t sound like me. I ask for options. I take pieces and leave others. By the time a lyric is done, it has been through multiple rounds of honest revision.

The Proverbs album — 31 songs — would have taken me years to write alone. With this process, it took months. And the songs are GOOD. They are emotionally true. They sound like me.

I think we’re in a new era for independent artists. The tools exist. The question is always how you use them. I use them in service of authentic storytelling, and I’m proud of that.

What do you think about AI in creative work? Drop your honest thoughts below — I mean it, I want to hear all perspectives.

Follow me on streaming for music born from this process — starting with more releases coming very soon. 🎵