Why Your SUNO Songs Sound Generic (And How to Fix It)

Let's be honest: most SUNO songs sound the same. Not bad — SUNO's audio quality is impressive across the board. But listenable and memorable are very different things. If you've made 50 songs and they all blend together in your memory, this article is for you.

We've analyzed hundreds of SUNO generations — the forgettable ones and the ones that make you hit replay. The difference almost always comes down to five specific mistakes. Here they are, with exact before-and-after examples for each.

Problem 1: Using Only the Genre Name

This is the single most common cause of generic output. You type "Rock" or "Jazz" or "Electronic" into the Style field and expect SUNO to read your mind about which kind.

Why it fails: Genre names like "Rock" or "Pop" map to enormous training data clusters. "Rock" covers everything from Chuck Berry to Radiohead to Nickelback. When you give SUNO only a genre name, it targets the statistical center of that entire cluster — the average. And the average of all rock music is... generic rock music. It's the musical equivalent of asking for "food" and getting a plain sandwich.

Bad example:
\
Style: Pop
\\

What you get: A perfectly adequate pop song that sounds like it was designed to play in an elevator of a trendy hotel. Pleasant. Forgettable. You've heard it a thousand times.

Fixed example:
\
Style: 90s Garage Rock, dusty tape-saturated, surf guitar,
raw vocals, 155 BPM
\\

What you get: A specific, character-rich sound with lo-fi warmth, driving energy, and a retro edge that immediately stands out.

The fix formula: Always add at least three specificity layers to your genre:

1. Sub-genre: Not "Rock" but "Garage Rock" or "Shoegaze" or "Math Rock"
2. Era: "90s" or "70s" or "Late 80s" — this changes everything about production, instruments, and feel
3. Texture: "dusty tape-saturated" or "crisp digital" or "vinyl crackle" — this defines the sonic character

These three additions move you from the center of a massive cluster to a specific corner of it. That's where the interesting sounds live.

More examples of the pattern:

Notice how every specific version immediately conjures a sound in your head. That's the power of specificity.

Problem 2: Over-Tagging (The "More Is Better" Trap)

You learned that tags matter, so you wrote 15 of them. You covered every category twice. Your Style field is a wall of descriptors. And the result sounds... muddled. Generic. Somehow less distinctive than simpler prompts.

Why it fails: SUNO processes tags as probability signals. Each tag pulls the generation in a direction. With 5-8 coherent signals, they reinforce each other — the AI has a clear target. With 15+ signals, many of them compete or overlap, creating noise. The AI can't serve all masters, so it compromises on all of them. The result is the statistical average of 15 different directions — which is, by definition, the center. The generic zone.

Bad example:
\
Style: Emotional powerful epic cinematic dramatic dark moody
intense orchestral symphonic sweeping grand majestic beautiful
atmospheric haunting
\\

15 adjectives. Zero specificity. Half of them are synonyms. The AI reads this as: "something big and emotional" — and gives you the most average "big and emotional" track in its training data.

Fixed example:
\
Style: Dark Cinematic Orchestral, 60 BPM, cello lead,
thunderous timpani, haunting female choir
\\

6 descriptors. Genre first (Dark Cinematic Orchestral). Numeric BPM (60). Three specific sonic elements (cello, timpani, female choir). Every tag does different work. Nothing overlaps.

The fix formula: For each tag in your prompt, ask: "Is this doing work that no other tag already covers?" If two tags point in the same direction — cut one. If a tag is abstract and vague — replace it with something specific. The goal is 5-8 tags where each one pulls a different lever.

Per-category limits to follow:

• Genre: 1-2 (max 3)
• Mood/Energy: 1-2 (max 2)
• Instruments: 2-3 (max 4)
• Vocal Style: 1 (max 2)
• Production/Texture: 1-2 (max 3)
• BPM: 1
• Era: 0-1

If your prompt exceeds these limits in any category, you're over-tagging.

Problem 3: Ignoring Brackets (The Biggest Missed Opportunity)

Most SUNO users spend 90% of their effort on the Style field and leave the Lyrics field as plain text. This is like hiring a film crew and then never directing them. The Lyrics field's bracket system is where the real power lives.

Why it fails: The Style field sets the global tone — it's the "casting director." But bracket tags in the Lyrics field are the "film director" — they control what happens moment to moment. Community testing confirms that bracket instructions are roughly 10x more powerful than Style field descriptors for arrangement control.

If you're only using the Style field, you're leaving 90% of SUNO's control system untouched.

Bad example:
\
Style: Emotional Pop Ballad, piano, soft, building
Lyrics:
I remember the days we shared
Walking through the autumn air
You smiled and the world stood still
Nothing else could match the thrill
\\

No section tags. No dynamic changes. No performance direction. SUNO will generate a flat, single-energy track from start to finish.

Fixed example:
\`
Style: Emotional Pop Ballad, piano, breathy vocals, 70 BPM

Lyrics:
[Soft Verse]
[intimate]
I remember the days we shared
Walking through the autumn air

[Crescendo]

[Powerful Chorus]
[belted vocals]
You smiled and the world stood still
Nothing else could match the thrill
(nothing else, nothing else)

[Decrescendo]

[Whispered Bridge]
And I wonder if you feel it too...
`\

What changed: The same lyrics now have dynamic range — a soft, intimate verse that builds into a powerful, belted chorus with an echo ad-lib, then pulls back into a whispered bridge. The song breathes. It moves. It takes you somewhere.

The fix formula:

1. Always use section tags: [Verse]\, [Chorus]\, [Bridge]\, [Outro]\
2. Add 1-2 modifier tags per section: energy, instrument, or delivery
3. Use [Crescendo]\ / [Decrescendo]\ for dynamics between sections
4. Use parentheses for ad-libs and echoes: (ooh)\, (yeah!)\
5. Place tags directly before the lyrics they affect — proximity matters

Problem 4: Same Verse Twice (The Loop Trigger)

You wrote great lyrics for Verse 1 and then... copied them for Verse 2. Or you wrote nearly identical verses with minor word changes. Now SUNO is looping the same melody and energy for both — the song feels like it's going in circles.

Why it fails: SUNO tends to loop when it detects repeated patterns. If Verse 1 and Verse 2 have the same lyrics, the same syllable count, and the same structure, the AI interprets this as "repeat what I did before." It recycles the melody, the arrangement, and the energy. The result is a song that feels stuck — identical halves of the same section pasted together.

Bad example:
\`
[Verse 1]
Walking down this empty road
Carrying a heavy load

[Verse 2]
Walking through this lonely night
Searching for a distant light
`\

Both verses: same syllable count, same rhythm, same structure, even similar imagery. SUNO will almost certainly produce the same melody for both.

Fixed example:
\`
[Verse 1]
[soft, acoustic]
Walking down this empty road
Carrying a heavy load

[Verse 2]
[building intensity]
The streetlights blur and the rain won't stop
I scream your name from the rooftop
But nobody's listening anymore
`\

What changed: Verse 2 is structurally different — longer lines, different syllable count, different emotional energy, different imagery. The bracket tag [building intensity]\ tells SUNO to evolve the arrangement. The song progresses instead of looping.

The fix formula:

1. Make Verse 2 lyrically different — don't just swap a few words
2. Change the line length or syllable count between verses
3. Use different bracket modifiers for each verse
4. Evolve the emotional arc — Verse 1 is reflective, Verse 2 is urgent
5. Add an instrumental transition between verses (empty lines or parenthetical direction)

Problem 5: No BPM (The Anchor That Holds Everything Together)

You set the genre, the mood, the instruments, and the vocal style. But you didn't specify a BPM. And the song came out at some default tempo that doesn't match the energy you wanted.

Why it fails: BPM isn't just tempo — it's one of SUNO's strongest anchors. A numeric BPM value influences:

• Drum pattern selection
• Rhythmic feel
• Energy level
• Genre alignment (a 170 BPM track will naturally lean toward drum and bass patterns even without explicit genre tags)
• Vocal pacing and delivery

Without a BPM, SUNO guesses based on genre norms. But genre norms cover wide ranges — "Pop" can be 90 BPM or 130 BPM, and those are completely different vibes.

Bad example:
\
Style: Dark Techno, menacing, heavy bass, industrial
\\

Without BPM, SUNO might generate anything from 110 (too slow for techno) to 150 (too fast for the "menacing" vibe). The result feels misaligned — the energy doesn't match the mood.

Fixed example:
\
Style: Dark Techno, menacing, 135 BPM, heavy bass,
gritty analog, industrial
\\

With 135 BPM\, SUNO locks into the right tempo range for dark techno. The drum patterns, bass rhythm, and overall energy all align because the BPM anchor tells the AI exactly where to sit on the energy spectrum.

The fix formula: Always include a numeric BPM. Here are reference ranges for common genres:

Pick a BPM within the range and commit to it. Don't leave it to chance.

The Honest Summary

If your SUNO songs sound generic, the fix isn't more creativity or better lyrics or a premium subscription. It's usually one (or more) of these five specific mistakes:

1. Vague genre — add sub-genre + era + texture
2. Too many tags — cut to 5-8 focused descriptors
3. No brackets — use section tags and dynamic modifiers in the Lyrics field
4. Identical verses — make Verse 2 structurally different
5. No BPM — always include a numeric tempo anchor

We've all been there. The first 20 songs anyone makes with SUNO sound roughly the same. The difference between casual users and people producing standout tracks is usually just these five fixes applied consistently.

AceTagGen was built specifically to prevent these mistakes. The Questionnaire enforces per-category limits so you can't over-tag, requires genre specificity beyond just a name, always includes BPM, and structures the Lyrics field with proper bracket tags and dynamic progression.

Stop making average songs. Start making yours.

Disclosure: I'm the creator of AceTagGen — the tool referenced throughout this article. Originally published at acetaggen.com/blog/why-your-suno-songs-sound-generic.