“It’s terrifying”: Ariana Grande slams AI covers using her voice
The popstar voices her concerns surrounding the proliferation of AI in music.
Credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
It’s difficult to escape AI at the moment, and everyone has their own view on it. One of the latest stars to share their thoughts is Ariana Grande, who says she isn’t exactly overjoyed with people recreating her voice using the technology.
Speaking to podcaster Zach Sang, she says, “What are we doing? Why? I hate it.”
When Sang mentions that AI could be useful to songwriters creating demos for other artists and using AI versions of their vocals to look at how to finished product could sound, she doubles down and says, “It’s terrifying.”
Over the past year, the discussion around AI recreations of vocals has been raging on – ever since April 2023, when an artist named Ghostwriter977 released a song called Heart On My Sleeve, featuring vocals which sounded like they were recorded by The Weeknd and Drake.
It was quickly removed from streaming platforms, but in the following months, we’ve seen myriad AI-generated songs popping up on social media. With Grande alone, there are ‘covers’ of everything from Bring Me to Life by Evanescence to Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits.
Elsewhere in the interview, Grande also admits that she wasn’t happy when songs she recorded with Max Martin ended up doing the rounds on TikTok. She says, “Thank you very much. I’ll see you in jail – literally.”
She continues, “So [leaked track] Fantasize comes out,” and then corrects herself. “‘Comes out’ – crazy – was stolen … thieves, pirates, crooks, illegal. I’ll pay you more to get it back.”
When Sang asks her why she was so unhappy about the leaks, she explains that the songs were intended for a TV show, and a parody of “a ‘90s girl group vibe,” so she was surprised when people “loved it.”
That said, she “took the note,” and incorporated a ‘90s influence into her upcoming album, Eternal Sunshine, which is set for release on 8 March. She explains, “I kind of gave them Ariana’s version of that.”
You can check out the full interview here:
