I love discovering music and musicians that are new to me. This week I stumbled across a video of a song in a style that I really love. My first listen to ‘Another Day Old’ was thrilling. The voice and appearance of this artist snagged me, the topic (aging gracefully) perfect for my age group. The style of mid-sixties Memphis soul is a favourite of mine. all the instruments supporting the song were perfect. I immediately dug a bit deeper to find more about Eddie Dalton (the handsome, fit, singer in the video). I wanted to purchase any albums he may have made.

The web site offered not much besides variations on the video I had just watched. Glossy edgy black and white photography too good to be true MSG for the eyes. My spider sense awoke the seed of doubt in me that what I was watching was unreal. AI. My disappointment could not have been greater. It was like striking gold and finding out it was Iron pyrite (fool’s gold). Needing further info to prove me wrong I sought out more. A Facebook page offered many more songs all in the same style with the same or similar images I had already seen. There was no Wikipedia entry, no biographical detail. This Eddie Dalton appeared on the scene fully formed as an artist. Manufactured.

Part of me is impressed that AI was this advanced that I was initially fooled. I felt like Deckard in Blade Runner running tests to see if a subject is a replicant or not. The other (larger) part of me abhorred this as a betrayal of the quality I admire most in popular music which is authenticity.

I could imagine all the criteria fed into creating this: attractive middle aged soul singer; style of Memphis Soul; cross between Sam Moore; Al Green; Ben E. King; Bill Withers; Charles Bradley; etc. each new criterion sculpting closer to perfection until there was nothing left to refine. The difference is this is not a sculpture of a sculptor created by a sculptor. Nor is this a collage of different elements creating a whole. Maybe it’s like mixing a smoothie by adding ingredients until the desired balance is achieved. 

Why? 

I recently heard a term that resonated with me. The term is  the “attention economy” which covers bums in seats, eyes on screen, time spent, etc. I assume that there are royalties to be collected and money to be made from this song. Attention paid to this fictional singer means that less attention will be paid to other things. 

Nothing wrong with fiction per se. I read fiction for diversion and entertainment. The written fiction I have read I assume originated with an author. The author may have a pseudonym or an alias but I believe to my core is a human. Most of my teacher friends have read ‘work’ created artificially that is essentially plagiarism. I have a friend whose workaround for his severe dyslexia is to dictate narrative and edit it using artificial means. His stories do not suffer, in fact they might not have been shared but for this technology. I don’t think he asks the computer to write it for him, he puts in his words and the computer assists in his syntax and spelling, punctuation. If I had not been told, I doubt if I’d know. 

I have another friend who paints portraits. I have sat for a portrait and he created a near perfect image of me in several hours. My wife is a photographer who takes my portrait in seconds, sometimes manipulates the image using filters or erases some “noise” or smooths out a zit. Various art forms with different limitations but similar results. Not about the skill, or the effort, it is about being human. 

Artifice has always been an element of all the arts. Acting is completely phony. What is the difference? 

I am a songwriter. I love creating something that didn’t exist before, but is still recognizable as a song and hopefully is not derivative but complementary to all the music I have heard before. My music is a reflection of my humanity. Most music I love has this quality. Flawed human foibles are the root of songs I admire. 

I wanted so much to love Another Day Old as much as I love To Ramona by Bob Dylan or Into The Mystic by Van Morrison. I can’t. What the song has brought to me is an existential disturbance but also a determination to assert my humanity through my art. Be real!

Free advertising for someone who doesn’t actually exist.