Director Jack Neo uses AI to create another song for National Day
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Jack Neo said he wrote the lyrics, while the music was composed by artificial intelligence.
PHOTO: JACKNEOCK/INSTAGRAM
- Director Jack Neo used AI to compose the music for his new National Day song, Singapore Is 61, while he personally wrote the lyrics to keep it meaningful and genuine.
- The song reflects on Singapore’s progress, political and economic stability, and encourages young people to have children, breaking stereotypes about success.
- Neo incorporated AI-generated images in the music video and explained that AI speeds up music production but requires human guidance and patience for refinement.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – Local film-maker Jack Neo has used AI technology to help create a new song and music video for National Day on Aug 9.
The 66-year-old posted the video for the song, Singapore Is 61, on social media on Aug 6. He disclosed in the clip that he wrote the Chinese lyrics, while the music was composed by artificial intelligence.
In addition to reflecting on Singapore’s journey from “a time when we were deemed to have no future, yet we’ve made it this far”, the lyrics also addressed topics such as Singapore’s political and economic stability and marriage rate.
This marks the second time Neo has used AI to generate a song for National Day, following We Are Singapore in 2025. The director also incorporated AI into his performance during his stand-up comedy show in June and in his 2025 movie I Want To Be Boss.
Neo told evening news publication Shin Min Daily News in a report published on Aug 7 that his favourite line in the song is “if possible, have a child to serve the nation; even if you attend a neighbourhood school, you have a chance to become prime minister”.
He said he felt these lines are very relatable to Singaporeans. The first part encourages young people to have children, while the second breaks the stereotype that only graduates from prestigious schools can succeed.
The music video also features AI-generated images of politicians including Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Neo said these images were presented in a humorous style and that he hoped they would make viewers smile.
He said in another interview with Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao on Aug 6 that although some of the footage in the music video was generated by AI, the final product was edited by humans.
He told Zaobao that he had to constantly use prompts to guide AI in creating the ideal music he envisioned.
“It took a long time to refine (the music) as (AI) sometimes didn’t listen and acted on its own, so you had to be patient,” he said.
Despite the music being AI-generated, Neo felt that he should write the lyrics himself for the song to be genuine and meaningful.
“You can tell at a glance that AI-generated lyrics follow the same style,” he told Lianhe Zaobao. “My lyrics were not created by AI and were my own creative expressions arising from my observations of society.
“So I think that alone is enough to prove that we can definitely outdo AI.”
Neo said that using AI to generate songs simplifies the music production process.
“It used to be a hassle,” he said. “After writing the lyrics, you have to compose the music, arrange it and then record the song. AI now eliminates those steps.”
When asked how much time he has saved, Neo replied: “It can sometimes be done in two hours, but I’ve also experienced occasions when it took longer to produce (songs with the help of AI).”
