I don’t like the AI encroachment on reality, but some of the AI generated songs are just as good as ones written by humans. On that note, don’t forget that AI was created by humans.
Billboard’s number one song on its “Country Digital Song Sales” chart is called “Walk My Walk” by a band called Breaking Rust, and, according to Billboard, Breaking Rust was created by artificial intelligence (AI).
Welcome to the future, baby…
This is only the beginning.
“In just the past few months, at least six AI or AI-assisted artists have debuted on various Billboard rankings,” wrote Billboard just last week. “That figure could be higher, as it’s become increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI — and to what extent.”
“Many of these charting projects, whose music spans every genre from gospel to rock to country, also arrive with anonymous or mysterious origins.”
One week later—AI scores a numero uno hit:
Breaking Rust, an AI “band” that appeared on the internet in the middle of October based on its presence on Instagram, topped the chart last week with a song called Walk My Walk.
Look at Breaking Rust’s social media pages and you’ll find nothing to indicate there’s an actual human involved in the music-making portion of the band’s songs – just a chiseled-jawed, clearly AI-generated cowboy, and video clips featuring folksy people doing folksy things or slow-walking away from the camera. To say the various songs are similar would be an understatement: They’re practically identical down to their bland, hollow lyrics.
“Breaking Rust, an AI-powered country act, debuted at No. 9 on the Emerging Artists chart (dated Nov. 1),” the music publication said. “The project, credited to songwriter Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, has generated 1.6 million official U.S. streams.”
………The story here is what the story has been since AI first peeked over the horizon to announce its intent to storm popular culture, and that’s this: There’s nothing anyone can do to stop this. Nothing. AI is coming, and it’s coming for all of us, and while I don’t believe it is as serious threat as James Cameron made it out to be in Terminator, nor do I think it can replace the soul (or whatever that indefinable spark is) that makes us human. No way can a computer do anything but copy what it has been taught, and there is something about the human spirit that can never be taught—inspiration, the muse, that kind of thing.
At the same time, so much of our popular culture today is soulless, generic, corporatized, and lacking in inspiration that AI is a real threat. You trying to tell me AI couldn’t make one of those lousy Marvel or Disney Star Wars movies? And…
Several country stars like Darius Rucker and Old Dominion frontman Matthew Ramsey have spoken out against AI, fearing the tech could replace songwriters and wreck the middle-class of the music industry. Rucker said AI-powered music is “scary.” “I don’t want to wake up one day and have a robot standing over me. It’s scary, but technology can be that way,” Rucker said.
Country superstars Randy Travis and Martina McBride have denounced unauthorized Ai-generated deepfakes, as Congress debates legislation aimed at protecting creators’ image and visual likeness. Last year, hundreds of the world’s biggest musicians from Billie Eilish to Stevie Wonder signed a letter asking tech firms to not develop AI tools to replace human creators.
Something like “Walk My Walk” is obviously reachable. Ah, but could AI ever come up with “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” or how the great George Jones interpreted and delivered it?
I don’t think so.
The AI generated song’s vocal phrasing, melodic shape and stylistic DNA came from someone who does exist: Grammy-nominated country artist Blanco Brown, a Black music artist who has worked with Britney Spears, Childish Gambino and Rihanna.
………The moment is the latest example of how generative AI is upending the music industry, giving anyone the ability to instantly create seemingly new songs by typing prompts into a chat window, often using models trained on real artists’ voices and styles without their knowledge.
………The credits for the grit-filled, chant-heavy track “Walk My Walk” list Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor as one of the song’s creators, with streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify identifying him as both the songwriter and producer. In recent months, Taylor has also been credited on streaming platforms as the songwriter and producer behind Defbeatsai — one of several X-rated, AI-generated country artists that exploded across social media last year.
On a lighter note, AI is used to create hilarious videos like this: