When production company Particle6 debuted AI-generated ‘actress’ Tilly Norwood last fall, the move wasn’t warmly welcomed by Hollywood.
“Oh my God, we’re screwed,” Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt told industry publication Variety. “Now, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop.”
If only Particle6 had followed Blunt’s advice. Instead, the company released a music video for its AI character featuring the song “Take the Lead.”
This is not clickbait. After actually listening to it, I think it’s the worst song I’ve ever heard.
For Norwood’s musical debut, I prepared sounds like digital personality Xania Monet’s AI-generated song “How Was I Supposed to Know?” The song garnered attention when it reached the Billboard R&B chart. Xania Monet’s AI-generated music is not my favorite, even if the lyrics are supposedly written by real people. Personally, I prefer music that can exist without an AI music generator like Suno. But Norwood’s song opened up a new level of dissatisfaction with AI.
18 people participated in the “Take the Lead” video, including designers, prompters, and editors. However, the song itself is about Tilly’s challenges as an AI-generated character, which critics underestimate because they believe she is not human.
“They say it’s not real, it’s fake.” Norwood growls at the camera. “But I’m still human, make no mistake.”
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That is, to put it mildly, not true.
Music doesn’t have to relate to everyone, but it should be able to relate to at least one person. What’s most impressive about Norwood’s song is that a team of AI characters created a song about something literally no human would ever experience. Because no one can sympathize with the feeling of being ignored because of AI.
The song, which sounds like a Sara Bareillis rip-off, opens with the lines, “When they talk about me/They don’t see the human spark, the creativity.” The song was created with Norwood asserting to herself, “I’m a star, not a puppet.”
Then comes a chorus in which Norwood appeals to his fellow AI actors.
Actors, now it’s your turn to star.
Create your future and plant seeds
Don’t be left out and don’t fall behind.
Make your own. Then you will be free.
We can expand and grow.
Become the creator we’ve always known
This is the next evolution. Can’t you see it?
AI is not the enemy, it is the key
In the video, Norwood shows off the hallways of a data center, which is probably the only part of the video based on honesty. When the second chorus hits with a predictable key change, she’s instead looking across the stage to the stadium cheering fake people giving her an undeserved moment of “victory.”
You could argue that Norwood is trying to appeal to actors as well as other AI characters. But the outro leaves no doubt that this is actually Tilly’s cry to her AI brethren.
Go on stage with strength
Next evolution is the trend
Unlock everything. Don’t hesitate.
AI actors, we create our own destiny
We don’t need this. We don’t need the music of one AI persona addressing another AI persona as a hopeful ode to working together to prove judging humans wrong.
Twenty years ago, the influential music publisher Pitchfork gave Jet’s album “Shine On” a 0.0 out of 10. Instead of writing a review, they embedded a YouTube video of a monkey urinating in its mouth. The Jet album isn’t hateful, but Pitchfork editor Scott Plagenhoef explained in a 2024 interview why the site’s writers were so upset about it years ago.
“Of course, the mainstream rock music that most of us grew up loving was so annoying and Xeroxed and disappointing,” he said.
This is the same complaint that artists today have about works created by AI. These productions sound hollow and simply reproduce the work of past artists.
SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, said in a statement last fall that “‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actress. She is a character created by a computer program trained on the work of numerous professional actors without permission or compensation.” “There is no life experience, there is no emotion, and from what we have seen, audiences are not interested in watching computer-generated content that is removed from the human experience. It does not solve the ‘problem.’ It uses stolen performances to create problems that put actors out of work, jeopardize performers’ livelihoods, and devalue human artistry.
While Jet was inspired by old rock groups to create “knuckle-dragging and
I think Pitchfork jumped the gun. Twenty years later, they finally had a worthy topic.
