Cortana has new songs, but she can't sing them yet

It looks like Cortana is learning new songs. She has been able to sing for a while now, but asking her recently has resulted in new songs. There's a little problem, though. She doesn't actually sing them out. Instead, many of the songs are read aloud. Perhaps she's in the middle of rehearsing them? Go ahead and try asking her with your Windows Phone device. We've tried it ourselves on the Nokia Lumia 930. Watch the video!

Here's how you do it:

Bring up Cortana. You can do this by holding the search button, or tapping the Cortana live tile if you have it on the home screen.
Go say, "Sing me a song."
That's it!

Here are some of the responses:

Go try it on your Windows Phone device and let us know if you notice any more songs from Cortana!

via Reddit

Mark Guim is Video Editor at Windows Central. He switched to Windows because the MacBook Pro isn't Pro enough. You can follow him on Twitter at @markguim.

168 Comments

She sang me one! :O
She is singing hehehe actually she Is saying din Dan don, din Dan don.
Say "do an impression" and look at the Cortana logo
she can sing all of these now with the dev preview update
Ohhh Danny boy the pipes are calling... She sounded pretty good! Lol
That's an old one, haha!
She sang that to me too, was impressed.
She sang for Daniel Rubino
Good one!
Awesome, can't wait to get cortana on my HTC 8X :). Off topic, the app Windows Phone Insider is unpublished, like wth. Can't download anymore :(
I think it's just called Insider/Insider Pro now. The store still has it. I swear by this app.
not talking bout the battery app, talking bout the Windows Phone Insider app which you can use to download ringtones / wallpapers / ect.
Yeah I noticed that to the day they merged the blogs. Just like ms store app disappeared
I can confirm that the app is no longer available. Winphonesupport on twitter just tweet me about it. To bad tho, really liked the app
▶ My convo with my ATT connection:
⭐"Horrible battery, poor RF, mediocre audio quality, poor touch response, high DOA percentage"
▶"Damn. I'm glad you told me. I'll steer clear of it then"
▶"Honestly I'm worried because with the amount of press that phone is getting, if the UX on Windows 8.1 sucks then it will likely kill the platform. Especially since Nokia got bought out by Microsoft Mobile Oy."
⭐"Cortana doesn't work right. Our Nokia rep disabled it on the demo phones. Previously stable demo phones crash daily now with 8.1. The few customers who do buy them hate them once they update the phones because the UX sucks. I dunno."
that's baddd. probably shouldn't use "demo" type phones then
What is the context of the convo? I'm not sure which phone you are talking about as the article was about Cortana and the comment you replied to was about their 8X getting Cortana... Also, your ATT connect sounds like a very biased individual.
+620 for the French touch.
Should old acquaintance be forgot and O'Danny boy with notes not read out loud
The song is called 'auld Lang syne'
She's been singing Auld Lang Syne since she was launched.
She did sound like William Shatner singing me Row, Row, Row Your Boat yesterday
Should old acquaintances be forgot
Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream....funny stuff.
Happen on my side ! Excited to get her learning something new :D
Move over Katy Perry!
Cute.
Ask Cortana "do you know the Doctor ?" she has 3 cool answers.
Just pulls up a web search for me. Maybe it's only a UK thing? :( [edit] When I tried "Who is The Doctor?", she did another web search, but then read the opening sentence of the Wikipedia article that came up on top. I've never had her read me a result before. Cool.
Yes, I use the UK version of Cortana. When I ask her the question she answers "who?"/"no, but I would love to take a ride in the TARDIS" and "Our paths have not crossed yet in time and space". They've added that recently, to coincide with the new series I'd reckon
I tried but she didn't read me the web result! House did you get her to do that?
I believe it's only a UK thing as Dr Who is a British TV Series. The only voice it responds with is the default TellMe robot voice at the moment though.
That sucks. Dr Who is really popular in America.
+blimey
Don't they have more important things to work on at Microsoft? Anyway, funny
Don't Fucking care. Put time into something other than something people will use only once.
Agreed. It's a novelty and has nothing to do with being a personal assistant. We get more announcements about her doing useless stuff than her actual job.
Disagree. It has nothing to do with being an assistant but EVERYTHING to do with being personal
Sorry. But they said they wanted her to be a personal assistant. They interviewed personal assistants to know how they should model Cortana to actually be useful in our every day lives. It is definitely more about the assistant than the personal. I didn't buy my phone so I could be sung to by a computer, I bought it so she could be an asset to my everyday life as Microsoft has advertised it.
soulcancer Then don't ask Cortana to sing to you. Let those that want to have fun, have fun and let Microsoft make Cortana great for everyone and not just for your dislike of amusement. How about think outside of yourself and think that someone else may be delighted if you show them that Cortana can sing. Maybe they never saw a phone sing or know that their phone cannot sing and it causes them to consider Windows phone. But no....it's all about you and there is no need for Cortana to cause people to smile and laugh and be surprised. I'm glad you are not in charge of Cortana development.
The problem isn't that they are doing it, but that they are dedicating more time to doing that than to fixing the inaccuracies of her decisions. Fine let her sing, but that's not why we spend 100+ dollars for technology. If I want something that can sing to me, I can buy a radio for much cheaper.
It's not just about u. "if I..." Omg ya if u want a radio, go ahead and buy one, but no one else cares
It's not about me but its about you? I don't want a radio. I want Cortana to be better at what they marketed her to me as. I didn't switch my whole ecosystem from iPhone to be sung at.
Again, ur using too much "I"s. Of course u didn't switch ur phone to be sung at duh... It's for the OS, so why are you complaining about something in Cortana when there are so many features on windows phone. Or did you just get ur phone for Cortana? I think not.
There is a radio app in lumia no need to buy it
+730
So..... you have statistics to show that Microsoft is spending more time "on that than fixing the inaccuracies of her decisions". What do you base that comment on? What are your feelings based on? Do you need WPC to post an article about how Microsoft is working on improving Cortana's inaccuracies so that it will be ok with you that they improve her song database as well? Unless you actually know that Microsoft is spending more time on this or that, you don't actually know what you are talking about and if you don't know, why default to being negative?
Nailed it.
So..... you have statistics to show that Microsoft is spending more time "on that than fixing the inaccuracies of her decisions".
Exactly! They probably have some interns working on adding these fun easter eggs. Even otherwise it's not as if they can't hire people for this instead of asking their main Cortana developers to focus on these aspects to the exclusion of all else. Just don't understand all the grumpiness and complaints. Don't like it? Don't ask that question. Simple.
LOL I highly doubt the engineers that write code for Cortana are spending even one second thinking up whitey "chitchat" for Cortana. My guess is its probably some writers or human interface experts. The amount of time to get that "in" the phone? I'd guess you do have to spend a few seconds to minutes typing the dialog (wow that's a lot of time) then get Jen Taylor to record the audio (again don't think the engineers that can adress your problem are being tied up with audio recording) and finally point Cortana to play the correct file when asked the correct question. Yeah don't think it takes away nearly as much time as you envision SerphX2.
Nobody in 2014 is going to be amazed to hear singing coming out of a phone speaker.
Don't be so closed minded. You don't know everyone and what they have seen or heard before and if you take your phone, demonstrate Cortana and ask it to "sing me a song" to people who have never heard of Cortana, they may be surprised and it may just make them smile....unless they are the kind of person that has the same mindset that you displayed in your comment.
Someone with the user name "soulcancer" complaining about fun & playful things that aren't all business. Who didn't see that one coming? :P
LOL spot on! :D
I'd have to say I agree. It's nice they are adding things like this, but I would like to see a lot more posts about cool features that can be taken seriously.
So totally agree! I can't think of a less usefull function like Cortana.... Look at Apples Siri... it was funny the first 20 times, but today no one use it all... Microsofts priority should be different...
I hope you realise that this sort of thing actually helps to train the back end of Cortana for different accents, the Alpha or Beta tag in the top right corner should tell you that!!!!
She seems to only sing the older loaded songs. The new songs are read instead and sounds robotic and plain bad.
Probably because Jen Taylor hasn't recorded the new songs yet...
I was thinking the same thing, and I am sure this update for these new chit-chat features were prematurely pushed out. What bothers me is that the traffic reports aren't reliable. I expect that Cortana would go into my daily calendar and pull it up. Lately 90% of my schedule hasn't really been consistently the same. Only 2 days out of the 7 days I get alerts. After that I don't get anything unless I ask.
She seems to only sing the older loaded songs. The new songs are read instead and sounds robotic and plain bad.
Copyright and royalty related issues perhaps?
You are my sunshine as well
I wonder if there are other new features or chit chat that were just added, too. Seems like they wouldn't update her with just new songs. Anyone notice anything else new? Where's Talderon when we need him!
Some new jokes
Let me know when she can sing "the ballad of serenity"
You can't take the sky from me...
The SkyDrive on the other hand....
that's what i got when told it to sing me a song !
row row row your boat gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream.
but she read it :/ didn't sing :/
She sings for me fine, on uk cortana. Danny boy and nee year song
Well, Jen did just say today she was heading back to "be a phone" probably has some catching up.
And as she wastes time learning to sing and do impressions, she still has some trouble at navigating to local locations and properly understanding what I'm trying to say.
Sang "On top of Spaghetti" lol
My favorite is "sorry,I didn't catch that"
Greeting changed!! Tell her hi, hello.. See changes
Sang "On top of Spaghetti" lol Edit: read it instead.
Lmao another waste of time update lol we don't need cortana to sing songs. We already have music apps and music on the phone. Lmao
Still waiting cortana for indonesian :)
Not gonna happen. Not in this life. Never.
Microsoft DID say that it will be AVAILABLE worldwide. Did you read it on the last months, didn't ya?
I didn't.
Read this, dude. I have been searching for 2-3 weeks back, here: http://www.wpcentral.com/exclusive-cortana-team-answers-your-top-questions
Sabar yah, nanti juga ada kok versi Indonesia, plus logat Indonesia-nya ;)
cek link di atas deh...
TBH saya sedikit pesimistik, bro. Tapi kalau nanti beneran ada Cortana versi Indo, mudah-mudahan bahasanya gak terlalu baku. You know, EYD doesn't work quite well when it comes to being personal.
How do you change Cortanas color? All I can get is the standard blue.....
Your theme color wouldn't happen to be blue, would it?
Figured that out, using OneStart Pro, so, wasn't really paying attention to what my theme color was....
She's got new jokes too
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine." Sang very robotic
That spaghetti song... priceless :D Posted via the Windows Phone Central App for Android
How about getting it to do something without needing the fucking internet all the time. Useless and switched off.
You...i just.. But... Yeah nevermind. Not worth it.
How about asking Microsoft to do just that on the UserVoice forums then?
She sang she sang!!!!! :D
She has a pretty great voice in the songs that she can sing.
New jokes, too. I got one about asking for a cheeseburger in the library. Robovoice, which kind of ruins the comedic timing. Still funny though.
Edit: New knock knock too. "Boo", "boo who?"
Edit 2: New chit chat all over. New greetings if you say hi or hello to her. Very obvious when it is a new one because it is the robot voice.
Edit 3: New animations when you say "do an impression". Yoda! :)
Yoda isn't new FYI
I notice that a few days ago, too. Can't wait for her to sing them :)
I got ....row row row your boat......too bad, can not upload a picture here
You can put the link to your uploaded picture, instead. OneDrive can help you for that ;)
Thanks for the help.....
The red color makes it look like your Cortana has gone rampant. o_O
lol, it must be replaced by another AI ASAP!
I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
I am starting to get very angry at the fact that I don't have Cortana as many others at Verizon everytime I see an article and I can't relate because I am missing the famous Cyan update. I even complained to the FCC and luckily I got a call from Verizon rep..Well, what a moron that person was as she adamantly blamed MS for the lack of the Cyan update...Really. It would be nice if a person like Bill Gate complained to the FCC and he gets a call from Verizon when the rep gives give Mr. Gate the same BS of an excuse I got and Mr. Gate pass it on to Verizon CEO like the ice bucket challenge. I wonder what bull shit Mr. Gate get from big red. It would be priceless. Just venting.
I know how you felt, I have Verizon too, talked to several reps and they had no idea and blamed MS. I got sick of waiting for stupid Verizon to get off of their ass so I got a dev account and got DP 8.1 - I don't know how long Verizon I going to wait, its kind of sickening.
Yep, she sings....bless....
Maybe they should replace Cortana with someone akin to Miku Hatsune. Then, Windows Phone will be a hit in Japan!
go get Japanese artist (anime designer, I mean) then, and do in a teamwork.
You know what. She does sing. But better than that, I just got into my car at a restaurant in a part of town I don't frequent and where you don't necessarily want to make a wrong turn. I put my phone into the windshield mount and threw my headset in my ear. My date said: "You're making a phone call?" I pressed the headset button and said: "Cortana, take me home." After which she said "Ok, finding directions to... opened up Navigon and we were on our way.
I tipped this
Spaghetti meatballs song now
She can't sing anything on my Lumia Icon because Verizon is out of it.
i found this 3days ago... She just reads the songs...but good thing is , she's got so many new ones... :)
I got the French one lol
Missing feature of music in Cortana
Right now I am in Alpha so I am still learning how to sing... This came up while saying sing me a song as today's update about it
It would be neat if she could sing and find my flights in my email and track them. Right now she can only sing.
And the jokes have been updated. And she started saying 'here is another one'
Waiting for the day she sings Bollywood song :D
Chhaiya chhaiya :D ...
While I am glad that MSFT is trying to give Cortana a personality and all, I would love to see it gain some more functionality. Like maybe it could learn how to send email messages for me. Or maybe the voice to text feature could be a standard input method across all apps like it is on iOS and Android. Lately, all I get from Cortana is Bing web searches. Not what I expected when they where talking about Cortana. I expected a bit more. While we are at it, I wish they would to in more data sources into the back end of Cortana. Wolfram Alpha would be a good start.
Mine also new song but Cortana just reading
Oh, he floats on the air with the greatest of ease, this daring young man on the flying trapeze.
I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. then it hit me.
When will be available Cortana beta in India?
We're becoming like Apple fanboys. Getting all excited about this stuff is why we love to make fun of them.
She just read that song is not singing
And also that's an new song
Agree with you my friend:)
something french...
I have cortana in alpha mode, so she cant sing anything :p
Obviously the front end code went live before the back end... Might want to work on that before the next roll out.
Now she's giving different answers
Cortana not working after I updated to cyan in India.UK language is not downloading now.
Hmm.. Cortana (alpha ) version says """"" ryt now I am in alpha . I am still learning to sing . """
she even learned new jokes and i counted at least 5 new songs...pretty gr8!! but waiting to listen to her sing these new songs and tell the new jokes like a human... :D
Got her to sing two and speak one. Daisy, Daisy
No Cortana for Lumia525 :(
I would her to respond like the movie eagle eye (positive side);-)
She sang me "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do...." (UK version).
I'm waiting for Cortana in India, Nokia Lumia 820
still just the 3 original songs on 1520 in UK .. couple of kokes I havent seen before though
No Pepsis?
1020 UK she's singing and telling new jokes!
She sang me several new ones including the "give me a home where the buffalo roam". "On top of spaghetti" - sings it! "Oh he floats through the air, with the greatest of ease, this daring young man on the flying trapeze" - sings it!
She's now singing the songs that she was reading yesterday. Also I asked "do an impression" and I got a Buzz Lightyear and Yoda impression. Each time she changed shape to the characters
Wow cortana realy is a big deal
I think she should learn some jokes too jst 2mk it evn mre fun
It already support that
Just tell "tell me a joke"
For my 1520 she sings all the songs in the video. No problems here.
"you are my sunshine my only sunshine, you make me happy...."
O.O She really sing for me
I really love ❤ this
UK one sings them
"On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed" She sang this one for me :) That's cute MS, but now, pls fix the cyan update for DP! (525)
She is saying right now I am in alpha. And learning how to sing?? Lol
UPDATE: She can sing them now!
Wake me up when the UK cortana is updated
Sang for me
She sang for me the Sussanah song :P
I just wish she would go through all the songs and impressions without repeating. It gets annoying when I'm trying to show someone a particular song or impression when she keeps doing the same one over and over.
I am still in alpha. So I am learning to rehearse!This is what she replied!
That's actually a Lumia Icon, not a 930. But I love how proud Mark is of changing the back cover lol. Showing it off in every video :P. Nice job.
She sings now!!
Same here! Frere Jacques is hilarious!
The daring young man on the flying trapeze!
My Lumia 920 was updated to Cyan 2 days ago. Tonight, I asked Cortana first to sing me a song. Got a Bing display of links to lyrics of O' Susanna. Then, I asked her to sing O' Susanna. Sure enough, I heard her sing the chorus of the song. My IOS7 using friends, though, look down their noses from their elitist thrones, and say Siri is better. Methinks Cortana will be able to hold her own, so to speak.
If it would come to finland it would be great!
She can now

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