Keeping Up with the MEGA65?

One day, I asked ChatGPT a silly question: if it could write some lyrics inspired by the spirit of the old “Keeping Up with the Commodore” jingle from the 1980s Australian TV commercial, what might they sound like?

It did a lovely job of it.

Another day, I asked ChatGPT another question: if it could direct a music video for those lyrics, what kind of scenes would it include? It came back with all sorts of fun, nostalgic ideas — including, naturally, a little nod to the waterslide from the original commercial.

Then, yet another day, I asked Google AI how one goes about using AI to generate a song. One of its suggestions was Suno. So I fed ChatGPT's lyrics into Suno and waited to see what would happen.

What came back caught me completely by surprise: a wonderfully catchy, warm and emotionally charged song. Somehow those playful lyrics had turned into something that hit my nostalgia button rather hard.

I loved it so much that, once again on yet another day, I asked Google AI how one might generate a video with AI. One of its suggestions was Runway.

So into Runway went ChatGPT's video ideas and Suno's music, and I let it do its magic.

And voilà — a music video came to life. It has a few charming AI hiccups here and there, but somehow that became part of its personality too. :)

Somewhere along the way, the rabbit hole got deeper.

ChatGPT kindly adapted the lyrics into subtitles for multiple languages — 15 in total — so people from different parts of the world could enjoy the same little MEGA65 story in their own language.

I thought that was surely the end of it.

It wasn't.

Another itch appeared: what would it sound like if those languages didn't merely translate the song, but actually sang it?

So ChatGPT went back to work, this time reshaping each translation into singable lyrics — preserving the meaning and nostalgia while allowing each language to find its own rhythm, phrasing and character.

Then Suno happily went to work again.

The results surprised me all over again. Some versions became warmer, some punchier, some developed completely unexpected musical flavours. The same little song somehow started sounding at home in many different languages.

MEGA65: The International Tour

One song. Fifteen languages. Far more versions than I ever intended to make when I asked that first silly question.

Listen to the international playlist on Suno → Keeping Up with the MEGA65? — sung around the world

It all started with a silly question.
I'm rather glad I asked it. :)