Artificial intelligence makes fans’ impossible dreams come true

It’s been just 25 years since May 31, 1998, when, after days of suspicious absence, Geri Halliwell confirmed to the world that no fan of the eleven-year-old Spice Girls deserves to hear: «Unfortunately, I have to confirm that I have left the group. I had to make this choice because of the great differences between us. I am sure the girls will continue to succeed and I wish them all the best. I don’t have any plans right now.”

There were a lot of lies in those few lines: The girls wouldn’t be successful (they’d soon break up) and soon Gerry was preparing to launch his fleeting solo career. Above all, however, the singer of it’s raining Men Taught thousands of girls and boys of that era a life lesson: nothing is forever, not even the Spice Girls.

It must have been many years since that 1998 to hear about Artificial Intelligence. Yes, it was in the movies and books, but it was all set in the future with flying cars and aliens. And if most envision a great use for this technology, perhaps with applications that would help address crises like hunger or disease, now that AI is usable, we finally have access. features Which, as politicians would say, are closer to the problems of the real country: the possibility of chatting with Padre Pio, the possibility of creating muscular avatars to post on Instagram, but also « Oh my God, what laughs of the characters of Harry Potter Is in Balenciaga».

But what does Geri Halliwell have to do with all this? It has something to do with it, because among the many uses of AI, there is one that hardcore fans have been waiting a long time for: songs can be created with AI. You can create them from scratch, but you can also add entries that already exist. Stuff that if it had existed 25 years ago, Gerry would have converted it with one click. Someone, they say, has already made an Oasis record without Oasis. Breezer, an English band, wrote some pieces and then added Liam Gallagher’s voice with AI. On Twitter she asked Liam if he had heard the songs: “I heard the tune of a song, it’s still better than a lot of things.”

It goes without saying that as software has become easier to use, the web has been filled with similar experiments. The Beatles have released new music, or rather: Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s singles have become the four’s anthems and some elderly fans are on YouTube to sob and cry in the comments.

Another very popular pop star in her AI version is Britney Spears, who hasn’t released a record since 2016: never mind, let’s make her sing everyone else’s songs. Simply use programs such as SoftVC VITS Singing Voice Conversion, but there are also websites that automate most of the process. Insert original song and associate voice. easy Come Easy Go. Britney fans have given us this: You can find “her” versions of a thousand songs on YouTube, from Dua Lipa’s latest to party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. But every day new ones appear: Lana Del Rey singing Harry Styles, Harry Styles singing Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish singing Amy Winehouse, Rihanna SZA singing, but also Kurt Cobain singing on a thousand miles by Vanessa Carlton.

sacrilege? Yes, that’s the sort of thing. If on the one hand even the dead come back to life, which would probably be a source of income for grain-seeking heirs, on the other hand artificial intelligence allows you to make the impossible possible. The Beatles are still together, but Britney is also singing a song by her “rival” Aguilera. And so this little game becomes more and more impossible, the pursuit of the impossible, which is no longer impossible.

What do other living beings do? Some people wonder about (artistic) death, and we don’t feel like they should get all the blame. Others try to plug a hole in the market: Chief among them is Grimes, who has announced she’ll share half the royalties on any hit song with her AI-generated voice and said she’ll create her own vocal model for users. are making. We didn’t expect anything different from someone who named our baby X Æ A-12.

Meanwhile, record companies are trying to figure out what to do with this (artificial) hot potato: Universal has signed a deal with Andel, a small Berlin-based music production company that will use artificial intelligence makes music. an article by Republic:« For now, at least, there won’t be any big chart hits as promised heart on my sleeve by Drake and The Weeknd (Incredible first case of AI music, ed) because Andel specializes in a very specific, albeit vast, area: creating soundscapes for daily activities such as sleep, relaxation and concentration». In short, good news for everyone except those who play compilations. Buddha Bar,

At the same time, however, the phenomenon is unstoppable on the web and scams have even started: some Frank Ocean fans have spent $13,000 to buy false unreleased songs generated by artificial intelligence.

Like all moments of transition, it is difficult to foresee how AI will be used in the near future. It is to be hoped that a law will be made and that the labels will handle this issue better than the transition from CD to MP3 (remember the cuteness of copy-protected CDs?). These days the European Commission is talking about creating a kind of sticker to identify AI generated content to limit misinformation. But how do you stamp a song? Maybe by putting a tag, “Elettra, Elettra Lamborghini”, but more serious.

While we wait, we’re in a gray area: New songs are popping up on the web every day and musicians dread what’s to come. However, we must admit that there are some remarkable experiments. like ariana grande singing suburban girl by Anna Tatangelo. Is this perhaps the concept of the Metaverse? If we really have to die, let’s do it with a smile (generated strictly with FaceApp).