YouTube Music adds AI-generated backgrounds to transform lyrics sharing experience

YouTube Music is jazzing up the lyrics-sharing experience

Chethan is a reporter at Android Police, focusing on the weekend news coverage for the site. He has covered tech for over a decade with multiple publications, including the likes of Times Internet, Guiding Tech, and Android Headlines, to name a few. Chethan's love for Android dates back to the days of the Samsung/Google Nexus S, with his first Android phone being the HTC Desire HD back in 2010. Away from work, he's on the lookout for live cricket streams or NBA highlights. He also enjoys the occasional hour or two of console/mobile gaming whenever time permits. Almost every major music streaming platform gives you the ability to share the lyrics of the song you're playing. YouTube Music is no different, as it brought the feature to its apps last year. The streaming app is now testing AI-generated backgrounds for the lyrics you share, following multiple AI-related feature additions in the recent past. YouTube Music is adding a new option to the row of background color options in the lyrics-sharing interface. However, the rollout appears to be limited to the US for now (via 9to5Google), though it shouldn't take long to expand elsewhere. When available, users will see a familiar AI sparkle appear on the Share button in the lyrics view. Related YouTube Music may pull the plug on lyrics for free accounts Learning the wrong lessons from Spotify Posts By Chethan Rao Tapping Share takes you to the background color selection page, which is largely unchanged from before, save for the prominent AI button among the row of colors. First-time users will see a "Creating with AI" prompt when selecting this option, which includes standard AI content-generation disclaimers, urging users to exercise discretion before using it. Generate backgrounds based on the lyrics One aspect that could interest a few users is that this AI tool can generate a background based on the lyrics you share, giving it a more personalized appearance. As you can see in the last screenshot above, the image uses the lyrics to depict a hot cup of coffee and a clear sky. These backgrounds can seemingly take a few seconds to generate, with the ability to tap the button again to generate another for the lyrics you're sharing. 9to5Google notes that the feature is visible to both free and Premium subscribers on Android and iOS. YouTube Music also offers a similar tool to create cover art for your playlists, using AI and a selection of preset styles to generate the desired cover art. The only difference is that this new feature can cleverly adapt to the lyrics you're sharing, thereby offering a more unique experience each time. Subscribe for smarter coverage, including music-app AI features Want deeper insight? Subscribe to the newsletter for focused coverage of music-app AI features and related app tools -- from YouTube Music's lyric-background generation to playlist art -- with clear explainers so you'll know what they do and how they behave. Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. We expect the results to vary depending on the type of lyrics you're sharing, with the AI potentially tempering its output for songs rated "E" (Explicit). As someone who routinely shares lyrics in chats, this is certainly welcome, though I get a sense that the novelty may wear off eventually. Are you seeing this feature in the YouTube Music app?

YouTube Music lyrics sharing adding AI-generated backgrounds

YouTube Music introduced the ability to share lyrics last year and is now upgrading the background options with generative AI. Since the launch, YouTube Music has let you choose different colors for the background of the image you're sharing. Album artwork, song name, and artist appear at the top followed by a YouTube Music icon in the bottom-left corner. The update today starts with the "Share" button in the Lyrics view replacing the generic icon with a Gemini spark. Like before, you can choose up to five lines of text. Afterwards, the carousel of colors has a new AI option. YouTube Music explains how you're "Creating with AI," with the process taking a few seconds. The generated background will factor the lyrics you've selected. In the example above, we see a cloudless sky and a cup of coffee. Tap the button again to generate a new image. We're seeing this rolled out on both free accounts and YouTube Premium in the US. It's available on both the Android and iOS apps. This AI feature joins "Ask for music" in the Home feed.