Meek Mill Calls AI-Generated Drake and The Weeknd Song ‘Flame’
Written by SOURCE on April 19, 2023
Meek Mill has offered his thoughts on an AI-generated track designed to sound like a Drake and The Weeknd collaboration titled “Heart on My Sleeve.”
“A.I. generated song Drake ft. The Weeknd – heart on my sleeve,” he wrote alongside a YouTube link of the divisive viral song, which is credited to someone named Ghostwriter. “This is my 5th time banging this and it’s flame… We need new music from y’all 2.”
Meek’s comments come after the song went viral amid growing criticism of AI usage in music. The original uploader of the track claimed they were “a ghostwriter for years and got paid close to nothing just for major labels to profit.” The song was available on Spotify and other streaming services for a short while but has since been removed.
As TMZ reported, “Heart on My Sleeve” has opened the floodgates in terms of AI music. Two more AI-assisted fake Drake songs have surfaced online in the past few days and started to circulate on YouTube and TikTok. One is titled “Winters Cold,” while the other is called “Not a Game.” While it’s easy enough to discern that these aren’t, in fact, real Drake songs, these fake tracks will likely remain a major concern for both artists and their respective labels.
Drake and The Weeknd haven’t yet addressed “Heart on My Sleeve,” which was performed by the anonymous creator before their voice was altered with AI to emulate the two artists. Despite the radio silence on their part, Drizzy did suggest that he wasn’t a fan of the recent wave of AI covers and original tracks that have been popping up. He recently shared an AI-generated version of his voice rapping Ice Spice’s “Munch,” and wrote, “This is the final straw AI.”
Last week, Universal Music Group called on major streamers to block artificial intelligence from utilizing its catalog for emulation training. In a recent Twitter rant, Pete Rock called the use of AI to emulate other artists “mad disrespectful.”
