Liza Minnelli has released her first new song in 13 years, featuring vocals added to a dance track created by AI.
The track, “Kids, Wait Til You Hear This,” which is also the title of her upcoming memoir, is an unexpected foray into deep house for the 79-year-old Minnelli, with a driving backing and a few verbal declarations.
Minnelli, who hasn’t released a new song since performing a song on the US TV musical drama Smash in 2013, expressed great faith in the potential of AI-generated music.
On her Facebook page, she touted the company behind the truck, Eleven Labs, as a “$6 billion techno behemoth.” [doing] Great…what would I not tolerate from this wonderful company? Create, duplicate or copy my voice! …Used AI arrangement. Not AI vocals…all screams are mine!
In an accompanying press release, she said: “I have always believed that music is a truth of connection and emotion. What interested me here was the idea of using my voice and new tools for expression, rather than in place of it. Eleven Labs allows everyone to be a creator and an owner.
This track is part of a compilation of other music created or modified by AI, with Art Garfunkel being one of the other artists featured. His track “Authorship” includes an audio excerpt from his memoir “What Is It All But Luminous,” which pays homage to his father over an AI piano backing.
“From microphones to multitrack recording, music has always evolved with technology,” Garfunkel said. “What impressed me about this experience was the respect for musical talent. The human remains at the center. My voice and technology just opens new doors.”
Their enthusiastic embrace of AI stands in sharp contrast to other artists in the industry. There are concerns that AI-generated music could undermine the employment of human musicians and copy the work of others without proper compensation.
Ed Sheeran said, “If you’re taking jobs away from humans, I think that’s probably a bad thing. The whole point of society is that we all do jobs. If everything was done by robots, everyone would lose their jobs. I think AI is a little strange.”
And Lil Wayne wondered if AI could accurately reproduce his voice, saying, “I’m naturally great. I’m unique. So I’d actually love to see that thing try to replicate this motherfucker.”
Nevertheless, a new wave of “generative AI” companies such as Udio, Suno, and Klay are moving forward, signing deals with record labels that allow users to use AI tools to manipulate an artist’s work and create entirely new tracks using text prompts, allowing the AI to absorb the work of others and use it to inform new compositions. Artists can choose whether to opt-in to these services.
Although record labels were initially hostile to both companies and threatened legal action, a number of settlements and partnerships have since been reached.
Following settlements with Universal and Warner, Woody announced this week that it is partnering with Merlin, the umbrella organization representing indie labels such as Beggars Group, Epitaph, Domino, Sub Pop and Warp. This means artists from Arctic Monkeys to Aphex Twin will be able to use their music with Audio’s AI tools.
This week, Suno founder Mikey Schulman told the Guardian that the use of AI in music is already very widespread. “We’ve been told we’re the Ozempic of the music industry. Everyone’s in it, but no one wants to talk about it,” he said.
