Two boxes, two jobs
Suno's custom mode gives you two text boxes, and most structure problems come from mixing up what each one is for.
- The style box (Style of Music) describes how the track sounds: genre,
tempo, key, instruments, vocal character, mood. It is read as a whole, and the first words weigh the most.
- The lyrics box describes what happens in order: which section comes
first, what is sung in it, where the music takes over. This is where meta tags live.
A meta tag is a short instruction in square brackets, on its own line, that the model reads as a direction instead of a word to sing: [Verse], [Chorus], [Drop]. Text in square brackets is generally not sung. Text in round brackets usually is: it tends to come out as a backing vocal or an ad-lib, so (oh-oh) is a lyric and [Chorus] is a direction.
Tags are hints, not commands. Suno follows them most of the time, and the more your tags match what the genre normally does, the more often it follows them.
The structure tags worth knowing
These are the section labels Suno handles most reliably, roughly in the order a song uses them:
[Intro]— the opening. With no lines under it, usually instrumental.[Verse],[Verse 1],[Verse 2]— numbered verses help the model keep
them apart and vary the melody.
[Pre-Chorus]— the lift into the chorus. Short, two to four lines.[Chorus]— the main hook. Repeat the same lines each time it appears;
repetition is what tells the model it is a chorus.
[Hook]— a shorter, punchier repeated phrase. Common in rap, funk and
reggaetón, where the hook is not a full chorus.
[Post-Chorus]— a chant or tag line after the chorus.[Bridge]— the contrast section before the last chorus.[Final Chorus]— the last, biggest chorus.[Outro]— the ending.
For electronic music, add the sections that genre actually uses:
[Build]or[Build-Up]— rising tension before a drop.[Drop]— the moment the full beat lands. In hard dance and EDM this is
the most important tag in the song.
[Break]or[Breakdown]— the beat drops out, pads or melody alone.[Instrumental],[Instrumental Break]— a section with no vocals.
Leave no lyric lines under it.
Where tags go, and how long they should be
One tag per line, above the lines it introduces. Nothing else on that line.
Short. One to three words. [Chorus] works; [Chorus with a huge euphoric synth lead and the whole crowd singing] is likely to be ignored, or partly sung. If you want to describe a section, a short descriptor after the label is enough: [Drop: hard kick], [Verse: whispered]. Keep it to a few words.
Sound goes in the style box. If the drop should have a distorted kick and a reverse bass, say that in the style field. The [Drop] tag only says where it happens. Tags that try to carry the whole sound design compete with the style box and usually lose.
Do not tag every line. A tag starts a section. Tagging every line breaks the song into one-line fragments.
Genre skeletons you can copy
These are empty skeletons: the section order a real track in each genre follows. Paste one into the lyrics box, write your lines under each tag, and keep the style box for the sound.
Pop or reggaetón song
[Intro]
[Verse 1]
[Pre-Chorus]
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
[Pre-Chorus]
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
[Final Chorus]
[Outro]Hardstyle, hard dance or EDM
[Intro]
[Verse]
[Build]
[Drop]
[Break]
[Build]
[Drop]
[Outro]Leave the drops empty, or put one short repeated line under them. A full verse under [Drop] tends to pull the vocal over the part that should belong to the kick. The drop structure guide covers where the energy lands and why.
Funk montagem or phonk
[Intro]
[Hook]
[Verse 1]
[Hook]
[Verse 2]
[Hook]
[Outro]In funk montagem the hook is often a single chanted word repeated over the beat, so the [Hook] sections are short and identical. The verses carry the words.
Instrumental track
[Intro]
[Instrumental]
[Break]
[Instrumental]
[Outro]Add instrumental or no vocals to the style box as well. The instrumental prompts guide covers the rest.
Tags that cause more trouble than they solve
- Long sentences in brackets. The longer the tag, the more likely the model
sings part of it.
- Sound design inside tags. Instrument lists and mixing notes belong in the
style box.
- Conflicting tags.
[Chorus]followed by[Instrumental]with lyrics
under it gives the model two contradicting orders.
- Names of real artists or songs. Suno filters proper names, in the style
box and in tags. Describe the sound instead: era, region, tempo, instrument. The blocked prompts guide explains the filter.
How the GENPROMPT lyrics generator writes tags
The lyrics generator writes the section tags for you. Every lyric it returns is already split into sections, each one under its own label in square brackets, in an order that follows the genre:
- Reggaetón lyrics come back in the pop shape:
[Intro],[Verse 1],
[Pre-Chorus], [Chorus], [Bridge], [Final Chorus], [Outro].
- Hardstyle lyrics use the dance shape, with
[Build]and[Drop]
sections. The gregorian mode names its sections after the parts of a mass, with the function in round brackets after the name, for example [Sanctus (drop)].
- Funk lyrics are built around
[Hook]sections that loop a short
phonetic word, with the verses between them.
You paste the lyric into Suno's lyrics box as it is, and the sound prompt from the prompt generator into the style box. The prompt's own structure and drop fields describe the same arrangement in words, so the two boxes point the same way.
Common questions
Does Suno sing the tag?
Usually not, when the tag is short, in square brackets and alone on its line. When a tag gets long, or shares a line with lyrics, parts of it can end up sung. If you hear a tag in the render, shorten it and put it on its own line.
Can I write tags in Spanish or Portuguese?
The labels Suno handles most reliably are the English ones, because that is how most tagged lyrics are written. The lyric under the tag can be in any language: [Chorus] above a chorus in Spanish is a normal setup. Some GENPROMPT funk lyrics use Portuguese or Spanish section names; if a render ignores one, swap it for the English equivalent.
Should the style box mention the structure too?
Yes, briefly. The style box sets the overall arrangement, the tags place it in time. A prompt that says the drop lands at bar 16 and lyrics that put the [Drop] after a short intro tell the model the same thing twice, which is what you want. When the two disagree, the result is a coin toss.
Why does my chorus sound like another verse?
Usually because the lines under [Chorus] change each time. Repeat the chorus word for word, keep it shorter than the verses, and give it the simplest words in the song.
Quick checklist
- Is every tag on its own line, in square brackets?
- Is every tag one to three words, or a label plus a few words?
- Is the sound described in the style box, not in the tags?
- Do the tags follow the sections your genre really has?
- Do repeated sections, like the chorus, repeat the same lines?
- Are instrumental sections tagged and left without lyrics?
If the song still ignores your structure, regenerate before rewriting. Two or three renders of the same lyrics usually include one that follows the tags.
