CEO wowed by janitor's "song,'' baffling other workers: 'We have a new "company anthem"'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 29, 2025 11:00 AM EST

Many questions arise after hearing this person's surprising tale of a CEO who loved an employee's company song. 

Does a company need an anthem? Like an actual full song about said establishment? There's nothing wrong with having a jingle about your company — there are a few jingles that come to mind that are totally iconic. Part of why those jingles developed icon status is because a team of supremely talented people took the time to write, perform, and edit that song into a commercial. They found the right singer to perform it, spent hours in the booth getting things just right, and added instrumentation from talented musicians. Sure, that costs money, but good things don't come cheap. And you can't just buy brand recognition. You need to have a sound so iconic, so instantly recognizable, so catchy and earwormy, that even little kids can memorize it. 

Sometimes I wonder if, in the age of AI-generated media, the age of iconic branding is over. AI might never make a really fantastic song, video, or piece of writing. All it can do is ingest the works of everything it's fed, the songs of hundreds of humans who lived before it, then regurgitate that slop up to its audience. And I don't know about you, but I don't particularly like slop. I think it's nice when a human being is paid to create something based on their own human experiences and talents. 

However, I fear I may be both biased on this topic (as a creative myself), and hold the minority opinion. A lot of people seem to enjoy the slop. If your "company song" is just generated by a machine that's taken a gulp of music across history, swished it around, and spat it back out, that's going to be quite an interesting look for your company. Is that really the image you want your company to project? If you had to choose between a regular beverage or a drink that someone swished around in their mouth then drooled onto the floor, which would you pick? 

Although people feel various ways about using generative AI, we can all agree that it's a cheap thing to do. Oh, your company's using AI instead of paying a songwriter? Is your company about to go broke? Do you need to start a GoFundMe to keep your company afloat? Oh, you don't? Your company is just using second-rate, shoddy stuff? Well, that says a great deal about said establishment, doesn't it? Advertising is about styling your company; it's a matter of taste, and this taste is gross. 

I hope this CEO rethinks his obsession with this song before someone reveals to him that it's slop… otherwise, everyone else will just continue to giggle at him behind his back. As for the janitor, if he has artistic visions, he should pick up any instrument, or start belting out a tune, and create that song himself. It won't be perfect, but at least it'll be part of an artistic pursuit about a subject he clearly feels strongly about. 

Advertisement
  • 01

    'The CEO of our company got duped by an A.I song an employee made and now we have a new, "company anthem."'

    Man in gray suit leads meeting of 6 business people at large conference table
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    I don't want to give too many specifics since I have an NDA but I work for advanced sector biotech company with around 1,200 employees operating across 4 states.
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 03
    At the end of the year the CEO spends a week going to every facility to tour it. This year the top. managers are escorting him around. No one is supposed to look at the CEO or speak to him unless he speaks to us and we are supposed to just do our jobs normally while he walks around.
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 04
    Out of nowhere when he's by my cubicle the 50 year old minimum wage janitor walks up to him while the managers are trying to motion him to leave and shoves his phone in the CEOs face and starts playing a, "company anthem" he said he made.
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 05
    Man in gray suit leads meeting of 6 business professionals, 2 other people stand up to look at documents in middle of large conference table
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 06
    It's one of those A.I generated songs where you give it a topic and it creates lyrics and vocals and music for it. Our CEO was immediately blown away and shushes the managers when they try to say anything so he can listen to the whole song. He
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 07
    starts asking the janitor where his recording studio is and who he got to do the guitar riffs for it because he loved the base and starts calling over other senior management asking them to listen to the song. The guy of course doesn't tell him it's A.I
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 08
    and says he recorded it himself at his home studio and is just like, "Oh I know some people." When the CEO asks who sang the vocals for it. He also shows him hip hop and country music. versions of the anthem which all have completely different lyrics
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 09
    and voices but the CEO doesn't seem to notice and just talking about how impressed he is with it and how this needs to get to the marketing team so they can send it to the investors and use it to attract clients.
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 10
    Today an email went out to every employee that included an mp3 of the song saying its going to be the companies new employee anthem and is part of some workplace pride initiative they are doing now to boost morale. There is nothing that could make me less proud to work here than this.
    via u/Fast-Bell-340
  • 11
    Devil_of_Fizzlefield We need an update for how this is handled when it's inevitably brought to the CEO's attention that the song is Al. Someone, somewhere, in his circle of influence is going to realize it and have the gall to tell him.
    via u/Devil_of_Fizzlefield
  • 12
    travelsherpa Gee. I say respect due to the janitor. He saw his opportunity to immortalize himself in the company culture and took it
    via u/travelsherpa
  • 13
    DarkStrik3WasTa... This is the kind of stuff that makes me cringe in regards to Al. We are developing it to speed up workflows, assist in information retrieval, etc (at least just LLMs). However, when it gets used to replace human creativity, it just feels wrong and soulless.
    via u/DarkStrik3WasTaken
  • 14
    Specific_Delay_5... Your CEO didn't get "duped" CEO's crypto bros and C- Suite officers are the only ones who think Al is actually the future and will replace all employees thus maximizing profits. So he thinks this proves his point it's why he probably adopted it
    via u/Specific_Delay_5364
  • 15
    MarkHafer I dislike how you are trying to quantify the janitors worth by clarifying that he is a "minimum wage" employee as if this wouldn't be equally as infuriating if it was one of your coworkers
    via u/MarkHafer
  • 16
    thoroughbredftw I hope the janitor gets a raise over this. Yes, the big kahuna will eventually know it's Al-generated, but he will be too proud to admit he was mistaken. And now we need to hear the company anthem!
    via u/thoroughbredftw

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

Songs boss workplace-stories
Scroll Down For The Next Article