Taryn Southern Is First to Use Artificial Intelligence to Make Entire Album

I AM AI is the first album produced with AI

New album from Taryn Southern is produced using artificial intelligence.

By 2012, global spend on artificial intelligence is anticipated to hit $57.6 billion, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). And one YouTube star — Taryn Southern — is already activating AI to pioneer a new methodology for producing music. Released today, Southern’s pop album “I Am AI” features eight tracks, each produced entirely with artificial intelligence. She’s also released a new music video “Welcome to the New World,” which integrated collaborators from all over the world.

Southern’s first single Break Free reached #48 on the Billboard Indicator Chart , #2 on the Euro Indie Chart and has more than 1.8 million views on the music video. Life Support, her second single, was nominated for a 2018 Streamy Award for Best Immersive Video.

Her work on “I AM AI” is unprecedented. Until now, producing an album entirely with artificial intelligence had never been done. And, it’s a process Southern said will revolutionize the open-market for aspiring artists and musicians and disrupt an age-old model for the music industry.

“I definitely see it changing the future of the music. I imagine in 20 years, ‘coding’ songs will be commonplace,” Southern told VideoInk (a subsidiary of TheWrap) exclusively in an interview. “It’s still incredibly early for AI, but I could see artists using machine learning for all kinds of applications: to mix and master their songs, to help them identify unique chord progressions, alter instrumentation to change style, determine more interesting melody structures based on a musician’s given sound and style preferences, even gage their audience’s emotional response to a song. The sky is the limit.”

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So, how does producing music with artificial intelligence work exactly?

Southern collaborated with Amper — an artificial intelligence music composition software — to develop a process that she says involved telling the computer the sounds, notes, or instruments she wanted. Amper’s software then delivered a “stem,” or audio fragment, to match that criteria. Then with feedback and multiple tweaks, Southern is able to stitch those “stems” together to create a track.

“This is what the future holds. For us it’s all about the collaboration between creator and the AI,” said Michael Hobe, a Hollywood film composer and co-founder of Amper. “That’s what we’re working towards — to have AI truly integrated into the workflow. And Taryn was really the first to use the tools in this way, which has been really exciting.”

Taryn Southern on YouTube, circa 2013.

For Southern, taking the reins on charting a career path in unconventional ways has been her M.O. She was early to YouTube, launching a channel based on slap-stick and musical comedy in 2006. “I’m not really focused on building an audience on another platform until I have at least 250,000 subscribers on YouTube,” she told VideoInk in 2013. She now has nearly 500K subscribers on YouTube, a platform where Southern isn’t as active outside of releasing music videos for “I AM AI”.

“When I was on YouTube, I felt owned by an algorithm,” Southern said. “It’s a really tough job to sustain, and we’ve seen a lot of creators experience burnout the past few years. I didn’t want to become a living breathing vlog machine, so I threw in the towel and started exploring other avenues of interest.”

Aside from the album, Southern is also directing a feature-length documentary on the future of man and machine. “It’s called I AM HUMAN. My album is ironically entitled I AM AI, so I’ve got both sides covered!” Southern joked.

And so Southern has reinvented herself as a technology innovator and AI-storyteller. A musician changing the game, Southern’s work on “I AM AI” is breaking down the old-way of making music and alchemizing the future into the present.

“I AM AI” is now available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and Apple Music.

From the Beatles to Phil Collins, 13 Biggest Urban Legends Tied to Top Music Hits (Photos)

Many facets of rock and pop stardom have been associated with the macabre: from the 27 club to the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory. Fan speculation about the "true" meaning behind certain radio hits has resulted in some grim mythology. Though many urban legends tied to famous songs have been debunked by the artists themselves, the stories, many of which are unsettling, live on.
“Strawberry Fields Forever,” the Beatles: “Strawberry Fields Forever” kickstarts the list of Beatles songs linked to the “Paul is dead” conspiracy: Believers thought Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a doppelganger. Many assumed that at the end of the song, John Lennon mumbled “I buried Paul,” though Lennon disputed those claims when he was alive, insisting that the phrase he utters is actually “cranberry sauce.”

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“A Day in the Life,” the Beatles: Beatles conspiracists believe that this song made use of backmasking -- a technique in which a message is recorded backwards onto a song. According to them, if one plays a segment of “A Day in the Life” in reverse, they can hear Lennon saying “Paul is dead, miss him, miss him.” Also, according to the theory, the lyrics “He blew his mind out in a car” corroborate that McCartney had died in a car crash.
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“Revolution 9,” the Beatles: The last “Paul is Dead” biggie in the Beatles’ discography is “Revolution 9.” Though the avant-garde, eight-minute track is undeniably one of the band’s spookier songs, some say that playing the “number nine” lyric backward reveals the hidden backmasked message, “turn me on, dead man.” It was also one of well-known Beatles fan Charles Manson’s favorite tracks, as he saw it as prophetic and compared it to the Book of Revelation in the Bible.
Public Domain
"Better By You, Better Than Me,” Judas Priest: A cover of an original track by Spooky Tooth, Judas Priest’s heavy metal version has been accused of hiding the subliminal message, “do it,” that are reported to have prompted the suicides of two men in 1985. The band was even enveloped in a civil suit over the matter, but they denied any wrongdoing and the case was eventually dismissed.
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“American Girl,” Tom Petty: The urban legend surrounding Tom Petty’s rollicking tune posits that the song was written as a tribute to a University of Florida student who jumped out of a tower in her dorm building. The origin of the legend appears to be the lyrics, “It was kind of cold that night she stood alone on her balcony / She could hear the cars roll by out on 441,” which mention the highway that runs past the school. Petty later shut down the theory.
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“The Kids,” Lou Reed: Apparently, some think that the crying sounds at the end of the track were coaxed out by producer Bob Ezrin telling his children that their mother had died in a car crash. Ezrin confirmed that the crying was a recording of his own kids, but said they were crying because they didn’t want to go to bed.
Public Domain
“Love Rollercoaster,” Ohio Players: The story behind the scream heard midway through “Love Rollercoaster” is one of the darkest musical urban legends. There are many theories behind the scream, but they all center on the idea that it came from a recording of an actual woman being murdered.
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“Cross Road Blues,” Robert Johnson: Blues artist Robert Johnson has had a myth built around him -- as some believe that Johnson, originally a mediocre guitar player, went to the crossroads described in the song and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for great musical prowess. “Cross Road Blues” makes no specific mention of any Faustian exchange and Johnson himself never perpetuated the story in his short life, which ended at the age of 27 in 1938.
Public Domain
“In the Air Tonight,” Phil Collins: Legend has it that Phil Collins wrote “In the Air tonight” about witnessing a man who let another man drown in front of him. Collins later clarified the meaning behind the song, which was about his divorce.
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“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” the Beatles: The first letters in the song title spell out “LSD,” a drug the Beatles were known to have dabbled in. Lennon insisted the psychedelic word puzzle was a mere coincidence and that the song was inspired by a picture that his son, Julian, had drawn of a classmate named Lucy.
Parlophone/EMI
“American Pie,” Don McLean: Don McLean has been pretty mum about the meaning of his hit song, but he has quashed the theory that “American Pie” was the name of the plane that Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens were on when it crashed -- you know, “the day that music died.” He has said that his album was dedicated to Holly but the track name wasn't in reference to any plane.
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“Puff the Magic Dragon,” Peter, Paul and Mary: Many have suspected that the easygoing ditty about an innocent story of a boy and a dragon wasn't so innocent after all. The “puff” in the title, as well as other dubious lyrics, has been interpreted as a reference to marijuana -- but band members have strongly pushed back on that idea.
Public Domain
“Stairway to Heaven,” Led Zeppelin: Contrary to its celestial title, it’s been believed that backmasked lyrics in "Stairway to Heaven" include satanic references. For example, the "bustle in your hedgerow" part, when reversed, apparently sounds like “here’s to my sweet Satan.” Lead singer Robert Plant vehemently denied the hidden messages, asking who had the time to even do that.
Public Domain

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Sinister backstories and hidden messages played in reverse

Many facets of rock and pop stardom have been associated with the macabre: from the 27 club to the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory. Fan speculation about the "true" meaning behind certain radio hits has resulted in some grim mythology. Though many urban legends tied to famous songs have been debunked by the artists themselves, the stories, many of which are unsettling, live on.

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