Kehlani is pushing back against artificial intelligence taking over music after Xania Monet, a virtual artist, inked a $3,000,000 deal with Hallwood Media and already landed spots on the Billboard charts.
According to Billboard Pro, poet Telisha Jones is the creative force behind the A.I.-powered sensation. To bring Xania to life, Jones leaned on Suno technology, the same platform currently tied up in copyright battles with major record companies. When Jones took a Zoom meeting with record executives earlier this month, she landed on the 3 mil deal from former Interscope executive Neil Jacobson’s Hallwood Media.
“She’s been writing poetry for a long time,” Jones’ manager, Romel Murphy, told Billboard. “90 percent of her lyrics are her own true stories, and the other 10 percent are inspired by the stories of her friends and community. What’s making the songs catch is not a hook and a bridge and a catchy chant, it’s just the lyrics, and they are pure.”
Kehlani, however, isn’t buying into the hype. The Grammy-nominated singer argued that Jones’ poetry could’ve found its own lane without taking from rising musicians. “Maybe she should write a poetry book. I love to support a good poet. I cannot paint. So I’m not going to create A.I. paintings and sell them, taking up space from up-and-coming painters,” she said. “This is the antithesis of art. Just because you can don’t mean you should.”
Despite the controversy, Monet made her Billboard debut the week of Sept. 20, entering at No. 25 on Emerging Artists and No. 21 on Hot Gospel Songs with “Let Go, Let God.” Another single, “How Was I Supposed to Know,” hit No. 1 on R&B Digital Song Sales, No. 3 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales, and No. 22 on overall Digital Song Sales.
Kehlani, however, doubled down on her criticism in a social post. “This is so beyond out of our control. Nothing and no one on Earth will ever be able to justify A.I. to me,” she wrote. “I’m genuinely sad for people who are trying to come up and their space is being taken up by a computer program. I.T., not she, is taking all of the data it’s collected on us and what we want, and is tailoring to us. Even down to the voice.”
She closed with the reminder: “Art is not a money grab. Music means something significant to culture, to humanity, to people. Me personally, I’m going to value it that way for the rest of my life.”
See Kehlani passionately speak on A.I. entering the music space above and listen to Xania Monet below.
