21st birthday
Twenty-one is a night out, not a family dinner. Their friends know the stories that should be in the song.
A 21st birthday song built from your inside jokes
A twenty-first is usually a night out with friends rather than a family dinner. Give the song your group's stories, the nickname and the night everyone still talks about, and you have a track to start the party with.
Hear the second a name lands
Marcus, it's your birthday, let's celebrate the day,
You wrote“He orders the hottest wings on the menu and cries every single time.”
The song singsYou always order hottest wings that bring the heavy desert heat.
From a real song made here: “The Best Driver in the Passenger Seat”, for Marcus, from what his best friend typed.
The moment you give it
Somebody convinces the bartender to play one track. It names the birthday kid, then the story from freshman year, and the whole booth is shouting the chorus before the bartender can change his mind.
HAPPY 21ST · YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID · HAPPY 21ST · YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID ·
12:01 am, first legal round · Back booth, a crowd of friends with their phones out
Start with one memory
Pick a question. The form opens with your first line already started.
A friend's song from our samples
Written for a friend's graduation, not a birthday, but it shows how a friend's details sound in R&B.
What you get for $12.99
You hear it first, free. You pay once, only if you keep it.
- Free preview
- The first 60 seconds, ready in about two minutes after you enter your email. No card.
- The song
- The full song, about two minutes long, as an MP3 to download and keep.
- Lyrics
- Every line is on the preview page before you pay. Unlocking adds the lyric sheet, to print or save as a PDF.
- Their link
- A private link that plays the whole song without an account, with your name and a short note. Switch it off any time.
- Photo video
- Free: a vertical 9:16 photo video of your photos with the lyrics on screen, plus 15- and 30-second cuts. Made in your browser.
- The name
- Unusual name? Type how to say it (SEER-sha for Saoirse) and the singer says it that way.
- Re-record
- One free re-record per song: change a line, the style or the voice and record it again.
- Name sung wrong?
- After you pay, a free remake with the name fixed, once per song.
- Languages
- Sung in English, German, French, Spanish or Japanese.
- Teaser
- Before you pay, a 15-second teaser link that tells them a song is on its way.
- For this song
- Posting it? The 15-second cut fits an Instagram story and the 30-second cut a Reel, with the lyrics already on screen.
- Want a nudge next year? Opt in and we email you three weeks and one week before the date.
What to write for a twenty-first
- The playlist they always hijack at parties.
- Their nickname, and the story of how they got it.
- The trip or the night your group still brings up.
- The one thing they always order, say or forget.
- Their roommate, partner or best friend by name.
- What they are about to do next: finals, a job, a move.
- Keep it kind: the song will be played in front of everyone.
For example
A roommate might type:
- Jordan has been called Toast since he set off the dorm fire alarm making toast.
- Our spring break road trip broke down in Tucson and he made friends with the mechanic.
- He is the first one on the dance floor and the last one to leave.
Style and voice
Upbeat pop is the obvious pick for a twenty-first. R&B / soul works if the party is more of a dinner, and country is a good joke for a friend who hates country.
Getting it into the party
- Hand the phone to their best friend for the reveal, not to a parent.
- Download the MP3 and add it to the playlist on the speaker.
- Play it once the whole group has arrived, not during dinner noise.
- Text the file to the group chat afterwards so everyone has it.
More song ideas
Questions
Start the twenty-first with their song.
Type the birthday name and the nickname everyone actually uses.