AI suspicions surround mysterious singer

Sienna Rose is having a good month.

Three of his dark, jazz-tinged soul songs are in Spotify’s Viral Top 50. The most popular, the dreamy ballad Into The Blue, has been played more than five million times.

If he continues on this path, Rose could be one of the hottest new stars of the year.

There’s just one problem: All signs point to it not being real.

Streaming service Deezer, which has developed tools to combat AI music, told the BBC that “many albums and songs on the platform are detected and flagged as being computer-generated”.

Look closer and you’ll see the signs of an AI artist. Rose has no social media presence, has never played a concert, has no videos, and has released an incredible number of songs in a short period of time.

He uploaded at least 45 tracks to streaming services between September 28 and December 5. Even Prince, an artist known for his restless creative frenzy, would struggle to keep up with that figure.

His now-deactivated Instagram account featured a strangely homogeneous series of headshots; all of which showed the blurry, unrealistic lighting characteristic of AI renderers.

Then there is the music itself. Songs like Into The Blue and Breathe Again are full of jazz guitar melodies and buttery smooth vocals, sitting neatly alongside Norah Jones or Alicia Keys.

But many listeners noticed what they described as “Artificial Intelligence artifacts.”

Play Under the Rain or Breathe Again and you’ll hear a hiss running throughout the tracks.

This is a common feature of music created in applications such as Suno and Udio; This is partly because they start with white noise and gradually improve it until it resembles music.

It’s this quirk that allows Deezer to flag AI songs.

“When [software] “If one adds all the layers and tools, errors will appear,” explains Gabriel Meseguer-Brocal, senior research scientist at the publishing company.

“They’re not perceptual, we can’t listen to them, but they’re easy to spot if you do a few mathematical operations.”

Meseguer-Brocal says bugs act like fingerprints and have a “unique signature,” meaning it’s possible to detect which piece of software was used to create any given piece of music.

There are other signs for casual listeners: inconsistent drum beats, soft lyrics, and a singer who never deviates from the melody or sings the final chorus.

This “generic” sound was the biggest clue for some of Sienna Rose’s listeners.

“I was like”I like this’, But there was something very ‘uncanny valley’.” said TikTok music critic Elosi57.

“So I went to look [at her profile] and I said, ‘It’s artificial intelligence.'”

Another user Published on X: “I started listening to Olivia Dean (she’s amazing). Within two days, Spotify suggested Sienna Rose, who has a similar but more generic sound. It took me a few songs to realize she was AI.”

Broadcaster Gemma Cairney told BBC Radio 4: “His photographs look a bit unreal… After listening to the music, is there some of the soul missing from the soul?”

To be fair, many people have fallen in love with Rose’s songs.

Among them is pop star Selena Gomez, who used Rose’s track Where Your Warmth Begins as the backdrop for an Instagram post about Sunday’s Golden Globes.

The song was later removed when questions about Rose’s identity spread online, but Gomez’s post took interest in Rose and her identity to a new level.

And many of the listeners who played Rose’s music reacted with horror when they learned she might not exist.

“Please tell me it’s real” I pinned one to Threads.

“I’m disappointed because he has a few songs out and the music isn’t BAD” We agreed with someone else on Bluesky. “[But] Someone said, ‘Once you understand it, then it feels soulless’ and I agree.”

Of course, it’s entirely possible for anyone to get it wrong, and Sienna Rose is a true singer who avoids the spotlight. Maybe he’s in the witness protection program. Maybe he’s a real singer, in a contract dispute with his record company, and releasing music under a pseudonym.

If so, I’m sorry. It must be so sad to have your music labeled as soulless “slop”. But this is indicative of the problem the entire music industry is facing right now.

AI software is becoming so complex that clone artists are competing with real musicians.

A song was released this week that topped the charts in Sweden. banned from lists After journalists discovered that Jacub, the artist behind this work, did not exist.

There are many people in both technology companies and the business world of the music industry who want to see AI succeed.

It costs next to nothing to launch an act like Sienna Rose, but her music earns an estimated £2,000 a week in royalties.

Compare this to the K-Pop industry, where record labels invest an average of $1 million (£750,000) per year per member of a girl or boy group, and you can see the appeal.

Interestingly, some of Rose’s songs are credited to New York indie label Broke, which has a successful track record of turning viral artists like bbno$ and Ndotz into chart stars.

If you visit their website, Rose is not among the signees, but British dance act Haven is on the list.

If that name rings a bell, it’s because they got in trouble late last year for creating a song using an AI clone of Jorja Smith’s voice.

Their song was Run. removed from streaming services After record industry bodies issued takedown notices claiming the track infringed copyright, but it was re-recorded with human vocals and hit the UK Top 10 two weeks ago.

The BBC contacted Broke to ask about his dealings with Sienna Rose but has yet to hear back.

The BBC also contacted another record label, Nostalgic Records, which listed Rose on its website.

His Nostalgic Records bio claims he’s “based in London” and says he’s “not just an artist, but a storyteller from the heart.”

Deezer says 34% of songs uploaded to its streaming service (about 50,000 songs a day) are created by AI.

“Eighteen months ago it was around 5% or 6%,” says Meseguer-Brocal. “It’s surprising how fast it’s increasing.”

Still, Deezer hasn’t gone as far as online music store Bandcamp, which this week announced it would ban all AI-generated music.

In its statement, Spotify defended the inclusion of artists like Rose in its playlists.

“It is not always possible to draw a simple line between ‘AI’ and ‘non-AI’ music,” a spokesperson said. “Spotify does not create or own any music and will not promote or penalize tracks created using AI tools.”

Meanwhile, the backlash against artificial intelligence music is growing.

Last year, artists including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, Pet Shop Boys and Annie Lennox released a “silent album” protesting companies that train AI models on copyrighted works without permission.

Speaking at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2024, pop star Raye told me that she believes fans will always choose real music over algorithmically generated filler.

“There’s no reason to feel threatened,” he said. “I don’t write because I’m trying to be the best writer. I write because I’m trying to tell my story.

“I’m trying to lift some of the burden I’m carrying, or I’m trying to express myself and feel better.”

At the same event, Kojey Radical said he wasn’t worried about AI, even though he couldn’t trust the washing machine to even start at the right time.

“Why is everyone trying to scare me from robots?” he laughed.

“I’m not afraid of robots. I will win.”