If you were on TikTok last October, I’m sure your For You page was filled with edits of your favorite movie or TV characters to the song “Headlock” by Imogen Heap. I know mine was.
I was sitting in my dorm, scrolling through my feed, when I first encountered the song. It was used in an edit, which I ended up watching on a loop for several minutes. However, it wasn’t the actual edit that caught my attention; it was the song playing in the background.
After hearing it, I searched Spotify to find the song and found my way to Heap’s 2005 album, “Speak for Yourself.” The album ended up becoming the soundtrack for my freshman year of college. Although I’d never listened to it before, there was something so nostalgic about it. Heap quickly became part of my everyday music rotation, and I still listen to her today.
I’m sure you know some of her music, even if you don’t know that you do. Many popular artists have sampled her work over the years, including Ariana Grande, A$AP Rocky and Jason Derulo.
So, naturally, when I found out she was releasing an EP this October, I had to listen to it.
Her latest EP, “I AM ___” was released October 24, shortly after the 20 year anniversary of “Speak for Yourself” October 17. In a statement on Heap’s website, she shares what inspired this EP, as well as her use of AI in the album.
She addresses her use of AI, saying, “Like many of you, I have major concerns over the unethical training and environmental impacts of AI, but the technology itself is not to blame. I have been working hard to change minds and gather together those who want to do something about the future instead of succumbing to fear.”
She also explains how AI was used in her music, using a model she trained with her own voice called ai.Mogen.
As someone who opposes the use of AI in art, I was disappointed by this decision, but as a fan, I still felt compelled to listen to the new release anyway to see if the songs were really any good.
Overall, “I AM ___” was just what you would expect from Heap. She has always had a futuristic vibe, and this new EP really emanated that. The music was inspired by the growth and expansion of AI, and sonically, I think it represented that.
Honestly, if I didn’t know she was using AI to create the songs, it wouldn’t have been obvious to me. In the third track, “Aftercare,” Heap’s voice morphs into one that sounds like a child’s voice. To me, that was the only portion that seemed like it would have used AI. Other than that, I don’t think it needed to be utilized at all.
I don’t know much about music production, but I think the whole EP could have been created without AI and it still would have been good. However, that would take away almost the entire point of the album, since it was created with the use of AI in mind.
While I admire Heap’s attempt to adapt and integrate evolving technology into her work, I ultimately still disagree with the use of AI in any art form and believe it is unnecessary. In my opinion, making art takes a level of creativity and emotion that is exclusively part of the human experience, which AI is incapable of understanding.