This scarily realistic AI-generated Drake and The Weeknd track is going viral
A song using AI-generated versions of the voices of Drake and The Weeknd is going viral on TikTok, Spotify and SoundCloud.
The song, ‘heart on my sleeve,’ was made by a user called ‘ghostwriter’ on TikTok and Spotify. The artist explained that they wrote and recorded the vocals themselves before asking an AI tool to change their voice for that of Drake and The Weeknd. It is unclear whether ghostwriter produced the beat, but Metro Boomin’s producer tag appears at the start of the song.
The song has proven remarkably popular – though largely because of its novelty rather than its quality – attracting more than seven million views on TikTok and a quarter of a million streams on Spotify in two days.
“I came in with my ex like Selena to flex / Bumpin’ Justin Bieber the fever ain’t left me / She know all she need, I need her she blessed, giving her my best / I got my heart on my sleeve with a knife in my back what’s with that? / (Aye) 21, I love him that my brother that’s my slatt,” the clone Drake raps on the track.
On the same wave, The Weeknd’s cloned voice arrives, making it clear he no longer thinks about Gomez since their split in 2017: “Got these pearls on my neck, got these girls on my check like Selena baby / Oh my genie maybe yeah, she taking the lambo for a drive using the fancy door / When she went out the store, I throw my heart on my sleeve,” he sings.
“AI music is here,” wrote Mckay Wrigley, an actual AI developer, on Twitter. “This is the 1st example of AI generated music that *really* wowed me. This guy ghostwriter977 on TikTok made a Drake x The Weeknd track that’s actually kind of insane?”
Whether the artists have heard the track is unclear, however, Drake has previously expressed his displeasure with having his voice artificially enhanced. Most recently, after his voice was used by AI to cover Ice Spice’s ‘Munch (Feelin’ U),’ he called it “the final straw.”
‘heart on my sleeve’ and Drake’s AI ‘Munch’ cover arrive amid growing concern about artificial intelligence within the music industry. According to the Financial Times, Universal Music Group recently asked major streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music to block AI platforms from using its music to “train” their technology.
“We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorised use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators,” a rep for UMG said. “We expect our platform partners will want to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists.”
