If I heard this on the radio I wouldn’t think it was any better or worse than anything else out there – but the video and the song, everything about it, was created by AI.
I know if I was Charlie Booker I’d be imagining a world where Anna has a devoted following of millions and when she is switched off, people kill themselves – but I can’t quite see that.
What I can see is that people with a bit of talent can use their own ideas and then organise everything else using AI and be their own bedroom Bowie – by which I mean gathering the best session musicians and getting them to jam away until something happens, using your idea as a base.
Thoughts?
Possibilities are endless. Ena Sharples singing Subterranean Homesick Blues? Gary Glitter doing I Can’t Go For That feat. Rolf Harris on didgeridoo? Tom and Barbara singing The Good Life? Beethoven conducting his 5th Symphony?
I suppose the best you can say is that she’s no worse than a gazillion human autotune BGT merchants.
Why this is such a big deal when a machine in Sweden has been writing and performing pretty much the entire top 40 since about 2002 I have no idea. You’re not telling me Ed Sheeran actually exists.
Aha! So that’s why Max Martin never wants to be photographed!
That’s eerie, Indiana.
It launches straight off with the Pachelbel canon chord progression, which is I guess inevitable, AI and algorithms steering everyone and everything towards the bland centre for easier mass management.
The vocal delivery/phrasing is pretty obviously artificial. The way an actual person breathes wouldn’t naturally produce a vocal like that. As for the video, it’s very good work, but not yet good enough to fool anyone but the visually-impaired.
Musically and lyrically it’s pablum-pop, but then a lot of modern chart music is.
I expect to see more of this sort of thing, and more convincing, as the software gets better. The real danger point will be when they no longer tell you what is human-real and what is AI-generated. The possibilities for corporate commodification of this are huge. Imagine a global streaming service pumping out AI-generated music 24/7 in every conceivable style and all wholly-owned by the streamer itself. No performance, production or songwriting royalties to pay…
Haha, dude thinks musicians get paid!
The Moose is loose, aboot This Hoose!
Some of them do get paid.
Most of those just don’t get paid more that a small fraction of a pittance.
Musicians love to get paid. Almost as much as they love to play music.
Even playing for next to nothing is better than getting nothing whatsoever, ever again, because of not ever being required to play at all.
Well, if they want to make a better living they’ll have to perfect appearing to be underwater and singing in the opposite direction to the microphone like dear old Anna.
“The way an actual person breathes wouldn’t naturally produce a vocal like that”! I find myself thinking that about a lot of music these days.
This does sound odd, slightly off. It reminds me of something a young teenager would write, someone who’s interested in music but hasn’t quite matured in their ability yet. It’s certainly impressive as an AI thing.
As far as the instrumentation and arrangement goes it’s indistinguishable from a “real” modern pop record. But then a lot of modern pop is almost entirely computer-generated anyway, as far as the instrumentation etc. are concerned.
AI? It’s the end. 🥸
You can call me AI?
Bravo! (borrowed/nicked/saved for suitable occasion)