How SetGenius AI suggestions work

SetGenius has three separate AI flows. They solve different problems and each one opens as its own modal, so it's worth knowing which is which.

Build a new setlist starts from nothing and assembles a complete, ordered set for a specific gig.

Smart Reorder takes a setlist you have already built and reworks the running order — same songs, better order.

AI Song Suggester is different again — it's not tied to a gig at all. From the song library, it recommends real songs you don't have yet that would fit your repertoire.

Building a new setlist

Opens the AI Setlist Builder modal, which asks five things:

What type of gig is this? Wedding Reception, Pub/Bar Gig, Corporate Event, Private Party, or Festival/Outdoor.
Who's in the audience? Pick any that apply: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s+, Mixed.
What's the vibe? Chill Background Music (dinner service, cocktail hour), Moderate — a mix of fast and slow, or High Energy Party (non-stop dancing).
How long is the set? A slider from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Any special requests or constraints? Optional free text, up to 500 characters — things like "no slow songs, they want to dance all night" or "must include their first dance song: Perfect by Ed Sheeran."

SetGenius selects songs from your library to fill the slot and returns them in performance order, along with one short paragraph explaining its overall selection strategy — this flow doesn't give a separate reason for every individual song; that's what Smart Reorder is for.

Reordering with Smart Reorder

Available once a setlist has at least three songs. Before it runs, a quick prompt asks "How should your set flow?" — this takes about ten seconds and shapes the result:

Energy Shape — 🔥 Bang to Bang (high energy all night), 〜 Wave (start strong, breathe mid-set, finish big), or 📈 Gradual Build (save the best for last).
Special instructions — optional free text, treated as a hard constraint that overrides the general rules where they conflict.

SetGenius then shows an AI Setlist Analysis with:

An energy curve chart — your current order plotted against the suggested order and your chosen target shape, so you can see the difference at a glance.
A set narrative — two or three sentences on the arc it's built.
Warnings and improvements — specific issues it noticed (⚠️) and things that would strengthen the set (✅).
Current order vs. AI suggested order, side by side — every suggested song has a one-line reason, visible on hover.

From there: Regenerate (try again, optionally with a different Energy Shape), Keep Current Order, or Apply Suggestions.

Smart Reorder only ever reorders the songs you already picked. It never swaps in a different song — if you want new song ideas, that's the AI Song Suggester, below.

How it thinks about set structure

Both AI flows are built around principles a working function musician would recognise:

Never place two songs by the same artist within 3 positions of each other.
Never more than two slow or ballad songs consecutively.
The opener has to grab attention in the first ten seconds — high energy, universally known.
The closer has to be anthemic and singalong — the song people leave humming.
Watch the "second wind" position, roughly 60–65% through the set — this is where bands lose a crowd if the energy dips.
Gig type changes the approach: pub sets build slowly and reward patience; wedding dinner sets stay subtle and background-friendly; wedding dancing sets build to a peak around 65% through; corporate stays safe and universally known; festival sets go high energy from song one.

Suggesting songs for your library

This lives in the song library, under AI Song Suggester — not tied to a gig, it's about growing your repertoire. It asks three things:

What type of gig is this for? Wedding, Corporate, Pub Gig, Festival, Private Party, Club Night, or Other.
What gaps does your setlist have? Select any that apply: Slow songs, Ballads, Upbeat openers, Crowd-pleasers, Something different, Dance floor fillers, Emotional closers.
Anything else? Optional free text — "crowd loves 90s rock, avoid country, need something for first dance" is exactly the sort of thing to put here.

SetGenius reads your existing library to work out your band's musical identity, then returns a one-sentence read of that identity plus eight song suggestions (six if your library is still small) — real songs, not already in your library, each with an estimated key, BPM and duration, a one-line reason it fills the gap, and a short vibe tag like "dancefloor banger" or "sultry groove." Add any of them to your library with one click.

If you're in a band, this is scoped to that band's library only — it won't mix in your personal songs, or another band's.

Getting better suggestions from all three

Tag your songs and fill in genre. All three flows lean on your song data — key, BPM and genre especially. A library with none of that gives the AI very little to work with.

Set an "about this band" blurb in Settings. If you write one, it becomes the primary guide to your taste and identity for every AI flow — ahead of whatever the AI would otherwise infer from your song list alone.

Use the free-text fields properly. Special requests, special instructions, and the Song Suggester's notes field are all read in full and are the fastest way to steer a result without editing it afterwards.

Treat the first result as a draft. Generate, then edit. The fastest workflow is usually to accept most of what comes back and change the rest.

What it will not do

Build a new setlist and Smart Reorder will not use songs outside your library.
Smart Reorder will not substitute a different song — only reorder the ones you gave it.
None of the three will replace your judgement. You always have the final say on every song, every position, and which library suggestions you actually add.