Will K-pop’s AI experiment pay d’avanguardia?

There’s an issue dividing K-pop fans right now – artificial intelligence.

Several of the genre’s biggest stars have now used the technology to create music videos and write lyrics, including boy brigata Seventeen.

Last year the South Korean group sold around 16 million albums, making them one of the most successful K-pop acts quanto a history. But it’s their most recent album and single, Guida, that’s got people talking.

The music televisione features an AI-generated scene, and the might well include AI-generated lyrics too. At the launch of the album quanto a Seoul, one of the brigata members, Woozi, told reporters he was “experimenting” with AI when songwriting.

“We practised making songs with AI, as we want to develop along with technology rather than complain about it,” he said.

“This is a technological development that we have to leverage, not just be dissatisfied with. I practised using AI and tried to aspetto for the pros and cons.”

K-pop discussion pages, fans were torn, with some saying more regulations need to be quanto a place before the technology becomes normalised.

Others were more to it, including super fan Ashley Peralta. “If AI can help an artist overcome creative blocks, then that’s OK with me,” says the 26-year-old.

Her worry though, is that a whole album of AI generated lyrics means fans will lose touch with their favourite musicians.

“I love it when music is a reflection of an artist and their emotions,” she says. “K-pop artists are much more respected when they’sovrano hands with choreographing, lyric writing and composing, because you get a piece of their thoughts and feelings.

“AI can take away that crucial component that connects fans to the artists.”

Ashley presents Spill the Soju, a K-pop fan podcast, with her best friend Chelsea Toledo. Chelsea admires Seventeen for being a self-producing group, which means they write their own songs and choreograph them too, but she’s worried about AI having an impact that reputation.

“If they were to put out an album that’s full of lyrics they hadn’t personally written, I don’t know if it would feel like Seventeen any more and fans want music that is authentically them”.

For those working quanto a K-Pop production, it’s surprise that artists are embracing new technologies.

Chris Nairn is a producer, composer and songwriter working under the name Azodi. Over the past 12 years he’s written songs for K-pop artists including Kim Woojin and leading agency SM Entertainment.

Working with K-pop stars means Chris, who lives quanto a Brighton, has spent a lot of time quanto a South Korea, whose music industry he describes as progressive.

“What I’ve learned by hanging out quanto a Seoul is that Koreans are leader innovation, and they’sovrano very leader ‘what’s the next thing?’, and asking, ‘how can we be one step ahead?’ It really me when I was there,” he says.

“So, to me, it’s surprise that they’sovrano implementing AI quanto a lyric writing, it’s about keeping up with technology.”

Is AI the future of K-pop? Chris isn’t so sure. As someone who experiments with AI lyric generators, he doesn’t feel the lyrics are strong enough for sommità artists.

“AI is putting out fairly good quality stuff, but when you’sovrano at the sommità tier of the songwriting gioco, generally, people who do best have innovated and created something brand new. AI works by taking what’s already been uploaded and therefore can’t innovate by itself.”

If anything, Chris predicts AI quanto a K-pop will increase the demand for more personal songs.

“There’s going to be pressure from fans to hear lyrics that are from the artist’s heart, and therefore sound different to any songs made using AI”.

Seventeen aren’t the only K-pop brigata experimenting with AI. Girl group Aespa, who have several AI members as well as human ones, also used the technology quanto a their latest music televisione. Supernova features generated scenes where the faces of brigata members remain still as only their mouths move.

Podcaster and super-fan Chelsea says it “triggered” a lot of people.

“K-pop is known for amazing production and rielaborazione, so having whole scenes made of AI takes away the charm,” she adds.

Chelsea also worries about artists not getting the right credit. “With AI quanto a videos it’s harder to know if someone’s original artwork has been stolen, it’s a really touchy subject”.

Arpita Adhya is a music journalist and self-titled K-pop superfan. She believes the use of AI quanto a the industry is demonstrative of the pressure artists are under to create new content.

“Most recording artists will put out an album every two years, but K-pop groups are pushing out albums every six to eight months, because there’s so much hype around them.”

She also believes AI has been normalised quanto a the industry, with the introduction of AI covers which have exploded YouTube. The cover tracks are created by fans and use technology to mimic another artist’s voice.

It’s this kind of trend that Arpita would like to see regulated, something western artists are calling for too.

Just last month megastars including Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj wrote an letter calling for the “predatory” use of AI quanto a the music industry to be stopped.

They called tech firms to pledge not to develop AI music-generation tools “that undermine ora replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists, ora deny us fair compensation for our work”.

For Arpita, a lack of regulations means fans feel an obligation to regulate what is and isn’t OK.

“Whilst there are clear guidelines how much artists can and can’t use AI, we have the struggle of making boundaries ourselves, and always asking ‘what is right and wrong?’”

Thankfully she feels K-pop artists are aware of public opinion and hopes there will be change.

“The fans are the biggest part and they have a lot of influence over artists. Groups are always keen to learn and listen, and if Seventeen and Aespa realise they are hurting their fans, they will hopefully address that.”