Origins of Unsung Studios
We recently opened early access to our first product, Flow — a therapeutic songwriting tool designed to help people heal and thrive through the process of creating their own songs. Try it now!
First: yay!
It’s taken a lot of work and stress and emotional ups and downs to get here and I know we have a long way to go, but it feels really good to finally share this with the world. In this post, I want to tell you the unexpected story of how Flow came to be. It starts with a resignation and a song about a rebellious cat.
Leaving My Job (and Falling off My Path)
On October 15, 2024, I left my role as Vice President of AI and Engineering at Rosalind Inc., where we were building a discovery platform to support life science research. It was fun, meaningful work, but when the funding ran out, it was time to move on.
I arrogantly assumed I would stumble directly into another similar job and continue on the path I had been following for more than 20 years. Two months later, with no prospects beyond some tenuous interest at a few startups with no cash, I was sitting idle. And you know what they say about idle hands…
A Song About a Cat (and a Creative Awakening)
On December 6, I got a message from a former coworker: “Some fun AI thing for today. Michael and I made a song about a rebellious cat in the style of Paramore on Suno. I think it turned out pretty good.” Attached was a track called "Rebellious Cat."
It was great—funny, surprisingly high quality music, and energizing. That afternoon, I tried Suno for myself and instead of fruitlessly doomscrolling LinkedIn, I ended up spending three uninterrupted hours making music. I could not stop.
I’ve never had any musical training, and suddenly I was creating songs that sounded like they came from a real band. It was both astonishing and deeply transformative. It awakened something in me that I had no idea existed. It felt amazing, like I had just been bitten by a comic book spider and granted super powers.
An Unexpected Gift
The next step came quickly: it was the Christmas season, and I decided to use Suno to make a complete album for my dad. In about two weeks I had created an album that mixed silly songs about his beloved Portuguese water dog Hera with a few honest attempts to build meaningful songs about the beginnings of his relationship with my Mom and stories from childhood.
True to my age, it wasn’t a present until I had found an old cd burner, printed out a cover, and dropped it in a jewel box.
Hera the Queen, an album
That was probably the best present I ever gave anyone. It was fun to make, enjoyable to listen to, totally unique, completely personal and full of meaning. We briefly talked about turning that process into a business, but it didn’t inspire me at the time. So I kept job hunting.
Igniting Creativity with AI
That search continued to produce a lot of idle moments, which I increasingly spent playing with Suno and talking to friends about it. One old high school friend mentioned that he had written some songs but couldn’t get his band interested in playing them. They had been sitting in a desk drawer for years.
With a bit of prodding, I convinced him to send the lyrics over so I could produce the music for him. Like me, he was shocked at the quality of the music that came back, but more than that he was moved by hearing his lyrics brought to life. He heard things in the songs that didn’t sound quite right and set about improving them. AI had brought the songs to life and re-inspired him. Since then he has continued to refine them and is working on recording his own versions in his home studio.
Songwriting as Therapy
Being a part of that creative ignition was enormously satisfying and inspiring to me. And it was super fun! But underneath the fun, I was hearing something deeper. Listening to his words, I realized they emerged from places of deep suffering and conflict. He was using songwriting as therapy.
Here's an excerpt from one of his songs, "Survive":
You hurt me, burned me, scarred me deep.
You left me all for dead.
A horrible void you left for me.
I need you out of my head.
You see, Scott had been diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of prostate cancer at age 45. Given his youth and the advanced stage of the disease, his doctors pursued extremely aggressive treatment. The result was two years of physical degradation and incredible emotional strain. Writing this song wasn’t just a creative exercise—it was a survival tool. Other songs delved into different aspects of his struggle. "Grenade" explored his fear of letting people get close after trauma. "The Mask" revealed and processed deep-seated anxiety.
The songs were powerful, and the AI versions were (in my opinion) excellent. But what struck me most was how the creative process itself had become a pathway for healing. Through songwriting, Scott found a unique and beautiful way to process and release the challenges he was facing.
Where Flow Comes In
Realizing this changed everything for me. I started digging into the therapeutic benefits of creative expression. I learned that artists have long understood what research now confirms: music can heal. And so, I started building Flow to help bring that healing—and joy, and creativity—to many more people. I feel incredibly lucky to be building it. Here we go!
Please give Flow a try by creating a free account here.
Let me know how it goes!
