Callum: AI can play a song, but can it do art?

The most insulting thing about the success of Breaking Rust, the artificial intelligence “artist” who above Billboard’s Country Digital Songs sales chart headlines this week’s hits.

“Walk my way.”

“Living on Borrowed Time.”

The EP – which is also in the charts – is called “Flexibility” after years of breaking calls playing for tips in empty bars. And maybe Abier Rivaldo Taylor, who is credited for writing the lyrics, did it. But the blue voice that we hear singing about pain and suffering has not succeeded in anything.

In fact, you could say that this completely computer-generated country singer found chart success by making people laugh. A year ago, loud industry folk in Nashville questioned whether Beyoncé, who was born and raised in Texas, was country enough to make a country album. have a good time. Today AI-powered “administrators” such as Breaking Roast and Xania Monetwhich reached the Billboard R&B charts, suggests that you don’t even have to be human to fit into these genres.

Eric Church, whose latest release, “Evangelion vs. the Machine,” was nominated in the best contemporary country album category at the Grammys this month, told me he’s not too worried because fans still want to see live shows and “an AI algorithm won’t be able to take the stage and play.” He says the best thing the industry can do is make AI music its own genre and that award shows should create a separate category.

“I think it’s fun,” he said. He added that he was excited. “When people like a song or connect with an artist the ultimate thing for them is to experience that artist with people who also love that artist, that’s the ultimate payoff. You won’t be able to do that with AI.”

The church concludes the tour Saturday at the Intestate Dome in Inglewood. In addition to promoting the new album, this year his foundation began providing housing for victims of Hurricane Helen using the proceeds from the benefit concert. The North Carolina native also posted a single to raise funds to help his neighbors. You know, things only a flesh and blood artist can do. Regarding the call, he said: “The best thing we have to do is to inform the general public that this is AI because … I don’t think they understand it.”

“The biggest problem is the ability to deceive people or manipulate people because it looks real, it looks real, it’s so absurd if you don’t say it,” Church told me. “I’ve seen things from me online. … They took my face and put it on another body. … My mom sent me one and I was like, ‘Mom, that’s not me.’

“That’s where it gets dangerous and that’s where it gets scary.”

If AI-generated “musicians” like Breaking Roast are anything to go by, as Church suggests, it’s been 50 years in the making. While the use of the voice box in recordings dates back to the 1960s, it was the recording of Peter Frampton’s double live album, “Frampton Comes Alive,” that popularized its use. In the 1980s, Zapp had gold albums with frontman Roger Troutman, who pioneered his sound using voice box technology, and in the 1990s, AutoTune became a tool that producers used to improve a singer’s pitch on a recording to sound unique on a record. Give it to us Cher’s international chart topper “Believe.”

Over the decades, technology in the studio has made it possible for professional challengers to capture art and talent.

Before MTV launched in 1981, we were warned that video would kill radio stars. Apparently it did not. And now, AI-generated video can theoretically replace filmed human actions. But even this should not be a threat to the main stars.

As with most things in life, when a skill is devalued, it’s easy to pass off trash as treasure. Autotune and AI enable people with no musical abilities to play the system – like the Audio Catfish.

When an artist like Church sings heartbreaking songs, listeners can identify with his life experiences. After all, Breaking Bad is at the top of the charts with a song called “Walk My Way” … and the agency that sings those words has never stepped up.

That’s not to say AI ditty isn’t interesting. It certainly can be. I just wonder: if the artist is not real, how can it be art?

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow