How to Use Style Prompts in AI Music Generators: A Complete Guide
TL;DR: Style prompts in AI music generators like Suno and Udio tell the AI what the song should sound like — genre, mood, instruments, vocal type, tempo. Negative/exclude prompts tell it what to avoid. Writing effective style prompts means being specific about sound rather than vague about feeling: “indie rock, jangly guitar, male vocal, tempo around 120bpm” will always outperform “upbeat rock song.”
When you put lyrics into an AI music generator, the music it creates is determined by your style prompt as much as by your lyrics. A great set of lyrics fed into a vague style prompt will produce generic, unpredictable music. Those same lyrics with a precise style prompt will produce something that actually matches your vision.
Here’s how to write style prompts that work.
What Style Prompts Actually Do
AI music generators like Suno and Udio are trained on enormous amounts of music across genres, decades, and styles. A style prompt is how you navigate that training data — you’re telling the AI which part of its musical knowledge to draw from.
“Includes Style” prompts (positive prompts) specify what should be present in the music: genre, subgenre, instruments, vocal characteristics, production style, tempo, mood.
“Excludes Style” prompts (negative prompts) specify what should be absent — useful for avoiding genre elements you don’t want bleeding in.
The more specifically you describe the sound, the more precisely the AI can draw from the right area of its musical knowledge.
The Elements of an Effective Style Prompt
An effective style prompt usually contains at least three of these five elements:
1. Genre and subgenre. “Pop” is too broad. “Indie pop,” “synth-pop,” “dark pop,” “power pop” are more precise. The more specific you can get about the subgenre, the more consistent the output. Examples: “Southern Gothic country,” “bedroom pop,” “orchestral folk,” “lo-fi hip hop,” “Afrobeats fusion.”
2. Instrumentation. Call out specific instruments that should be present: “fingerpicked acoustic guitar,” “driving electric drums,” “lush string arrangement,” “808 bass,” “vintage Fender Rhodes piano.” Instrumentation is one of the clearest signals to an AI music generator.
3. Vocal characteristics. Male or female? Solo or group harmonies? Raw and gritty or polished and controlled? Speaking style? Examples: “breathy female vocal,” “gruff male lead vocal,” “close harmonies,” “spoken word verses with melodic chorus.”
4. Production style. Dry and minimal or reverb-heavy and atmospheric? Live-sounding or heavily produced? Vintage or modern? Examples: “lo-fi analog sound,” “pristine modern production,” “raw live recording feel,” “lush reverb-drenched atmosphere.”
5. Tempo and energy. Instead of “fast” or “slow,” try to be specific: “driving 130bpm,” “slow ballad tempo around 65bpm,” “mid-tempo groove.” Energy descriptors like “building,” “explosive,” “intimate,” or “hypnotic” also translate well.
Style Prompts That Lyric Genie Generates
When you create lyrics with Lyric Genie, it automatically generates both an “Includes Style” and an “Excludes Style” prompt alongside your lyrics. These are created based on your description — if you asked for a sad folk song, the style prompts will specify acoustic instrumentation, fingerpicked guitar, and avoid electric or dance elements.
These prompts are ready to copy directly into any AI music generator. You can use them as-is, modify them, or use them as a starting point for your own prompt writing.
To access your generated lyrics and style prompts, visit your My Lyrics page.
How to Use Style Prompts in Suno
- Open Suno and go to Create
- Enable Custom Mode
- Paste your lyrics from Lyric Genie into the lyrics field
- Paste the “Includes Style” prompt from Lyric Genie into the Style of Music field
- Add the title
- Generate
If Suno has a negative/exclude style field, add the “Excludes Style” prompt there. If not, you can append exclusions to the main style prompt: “indie folk, acoustic, …, no electric guitar, no drums.”
How to Use Style Prompts in Udio
Udio’s interface has a prominent style/prompt field. Paste the “Includes Style” prompt from Lyric Genie there, along with your lyrics in the lyrics section. Udio also supports explicit negative prompts — add the “Excludes Style” content there.
For a complete walkthrough of using Lyric Genie with Udio, see the full Udio workflow guide.
When the Generated Music Doesn’t Sound Right
If the first generation doesn’t match what you wanted, the problem is almost always in the style prompt rather than the lyrics.
Diagnose by asking: Does the genre sound right? Does the instrumentation match? Is the vocal style close to what you imagined?
Fix the most wrong element first. If the genre is right but the instrumentation is wrong, add specific instrument names to the style prompt. If it’s the wrong genre entirely, try adding the artist name or album as a reference: “in the style of early Bon Iver,” “like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours era.”
Try using artist references. Most AI music generators respond well to artist or album references in the style prompt: “in the style of [artist]” or “reminiscent of [album].” This is often more precise than trying to describe a sound in abstract terms.
Use negative prompts more aggressively. If genre elements keep bleeding in that you don’t want (a hip-hop beat sneaking into your folk song, synthesizers appearing in your acoustic ballad), add them explicitly to the exclude prompt.
Style Prompts vs. Lyrics: Which Matters More?
Both matter, but for different things. Your lyrics determine the meaning, the emotional content, the narrative, and the singable hook quality. Your style prompt determines the instrumentation, the production sound, and the sonic world the lyrics inhabit.
A strong style prompt with weak lyrics produces music that sounds good but says nothing. Strong lyrics with a weak style prompt produce music that means something but might sound nothing like what you imagined.
For the best results, spend time on both. The Lyric Genie-generated style prompts give you a strong starting point that you can refine with the more specific elements described above.
