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3 on Thursday

Songs, stories, and things worth noticing. Every Thursday.

Thursday, August 27, 2026 · 5 min read

1. THE STORY

The other night at a restaurant in Vietnam, I met a man at the table next to me who, after learning I was a songwriter, said that he—not musically inclined—had used an app on his phone to create a custom song for a dinner party he was hosting. It sounded really awesome, he said, and took him only a minute or two to create.

The woman seated next to him asked me how that made me feel. I said, I can’t hear you because I’m busy looking for jobs on Craigslist.

Then, in the hotel lobby, a song was playing that did not pass the whiff test for me. Do you know what the whiff test is? It’s when you read an email, view a painting or a video on Instagram, or listen to a song, and something feels ever so slightly “off.”

So I took out my phone and Shazammed the music. It turned up nothing. I moved closer to the speaker. Still nothing. I checked my internet connection. Fine. I asked my wife, Heidi, to Shazam it. Same result. No results!

I started doing this at other establishments. When the music gets a grade of C-minus or lower on the whiff test, I pull out my phone, and almost always the result is a spinning wheel, stumping the Shazam algorithms. Very occasionally it produces an artist with suspicious-looking AI art. And very, very occasionally it is a popular K-pop artist. (That was a joke.)

My friend Phat owns a pizza shop, and I noticed he’d stopped playing his classic-rock playlist. He said YouTube flagged him for using it commercially. Is that, I asked, why I’m hearing a lot of AI music in public venues? He said he didn’t know.

As someone who has made a living by having others listen to my music in various settings, look me up, and eventually make their way to an email list—supporting me through patronage, attending a concert, buying a book or merch, or, at the very least, listening from time to time on Spotify—this new turn in technology might make you wonder how I feel.

The truth is, I’m not sure yet.

I’m kind of where you all probably are, like you just slipped on some ice on the sidewalk and you’re still wiping the dirty snow off your pant legs. A person five feet away is saying, Are you all right there? And you say, I think so.

That’s where I am.

I think I’m okay.

One thing I am realizing is that we’re all going to need a lot of grace on both sides of this—as people making stuff and people receiving it. The challenge is massive: trying to figure out how to use AI while still being human and authentic, still being ourselves—which, yes, I’m aware sounds a little like an oxymoron. But again: grace. I have no idea.

A helpful filter for me, borrowed partly from the Quakers and partly from a Tim Ferriss podcast, has been two questions.

First: What skills do I not want to delegate because I want to keep getting better at them? Songwriting, storytelling, playing guitar, and singing are easy ones for me.

And second: How does the way I’m using the technology affect my connection with other people?

It keeps coming back to that for me: human connection. Belonging. Not feeling alone.

Besides—and this is a topic for another time—my favorite part about music isn’t listening to it. It’s making it. Probably soon robots will make me a nice spaghetti dinner without me lifting a finger. But that doesn’t mean I have to eat it. It certainly doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Perhaps most important, I still have the keys to the kitchen and know where the pots and pans are.

Love,
Aaron

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2. LISTEN

I’m working on the album art and trying to figure out what to call this collection of songs. If a title comes to mind while you’re listening, I’d love to hear it. All ten tracks are now available in the Listening Room before they head off for mixing and mastering. Listen here →

3. NOTICE

What’s something you encountered recently that didn’t pass the whiff test? How did it make you feel?

Email me and tell me.

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