by

Song of the Day #5,464: ‘Lover, You Should Have Come Over’ – Lana Del Rey (AI)

Yesterday we heard a computer-generated Jeff Buckley trying his hand at a Lana Del Rey song, and today a computer-generated Lana Del Rey is returning the favor.

For some reason, this clip segues from Del Rey’s vocals back to the original about two thirds of the way through, before switching back to Lana again. Not sure if that was a computer error or an attempt to make this more of a duet than a cover, but it makes for an interesting listen. You can kind of hear in real time the way one voice is morphed into the other.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,463: ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’ – Jeff Buckley (AI)

One of the most popular uses of AI in the music space is the resurrection of dead artists. This technology allows us to hear (or at least pretend to hear) new material from singers who were sadly silenced. This is particularly poignant when applied to those who died young.

Jeff Buckley was just 30 when he drowned in 1997 having released only one studio album (1994’s wonderful Grace). Several posthumous releases have attempted to capitalize on his popularity, which is just a pre-AI form of exploitation. I’d argue that the AI efforts are less cynical because they aren’t rooted in capitalism.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,462: ‘Vienna’ – Paul McCartney (AI)

They never told us in the Terminator and Matrix movies that, before the machines destroyed humanity, they performed classic songs in the voices of different artists. That seems to be the trajectory we’re on, anyway.

This week I will feature five songs reimagined by AI to feature new singers. I’d love to hear my readers’ thoughts on the artistic and ethical implications of this practice.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,461: ‘Cruise’ – Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly

The week of June 15, 2013, is putting Throwback Weekends to the test. Not only has the #1 song already appeared on the blog, but so have numbers two through four. No worries, though… it’s called the Hot 100, after all.

Topping the charts that week was ‘Can’t Hold Us‘ by Macklemore — Ryan Lewis, still hanging on from three weeks ago. In second place was Justin Timberlake’s ‘Mirrors,’ which I wrote about nine years ago. At #3 was Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky,’ which I featured on the blog a decade ago in a post that makes me sounds like an old man shouting at a cloud. Finally, the fourth spot is occupied by Pink and Nate Ruess, whose ‘Just Give Me a Reason‘ featured on a recent edition of Throwback Weekends.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,460: ’21 Questions’ – 50 Cent feat. Nate Dogg

Throwing back to the week of June 14, 2003, we find 50 Cent atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ’21 Questions,’ a track featuring singer/raper Nate Dogg. This song spent four weeks atop the chart on its way to 23 total weeks on the Hot 100.

This was 50 Cent’s second straight single from debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ to reach #1. The first was ‘In Da Club,’ which showed up on a Throwback Weekend six weeks ago.

Continue reading →