Recess Remix, a TikTok account launched in March, has drawn a large audience in Singapore by turning school anthems into AI-generated songs in other genres. A Mandopop take on Dunman High School's song has passed 192,000 views and a rock version of Raffles Institution's anthem more than 113,000. The account has posted over 90 remixes and hopes to cover all of the roughly 300 schools in the country.
The trio say they have no training in audio production and rely on the software for the musical heavy lifting. It is run by three people with backgrounds in AI and creative media rather than music: Matthew Lee, whose company QLabs built the prompt engine they use, Yap Wei Zi, founder of an AI builders' community, and her sister Sobbina Yap. They research each school's history and achievements, let Lee's engine suggest a genre likely to suit it and travel well online, then generate the track in Suno through one to four hours of prompting and revision. Many recent songs come from requests in the comments, handled first come, first served.
The trio say they want old anthems, many written decades ago, to feel like something younger students would sing proudly rather than mumble at assembly. They describe it as a passion project with no income and no plans to monetise, and argue it does not threaten musicians because AI can only rework what people have already made. They also say they have not altered the anthems themselves or claimed them as their own, only reworked the melodies behind them. If a school asks them to remove its song, they say they will, and Lee counts comments from students promising to sing the new versions daily as proof the idea works.
Reactions have been mixed. Some listeners want the tracks on Spotify, while others point to mispronunciations, a generic National Day Parade sound or melodies without character, criticism the creators say shows why a human has to steer the tool. So far they have heard only from students and alumni, not from school leaders.
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