We need music now more than we ever have. Real music.
Well, I’ve never written a blog before, but let’s do it! I should start by saying that this isn’t going to be a highly polished and edited read. I’m not a writer. Sure, I could easily feed this to ChatGPT to make it “fix” it and help it flow, but here I am, using the brain that I was gifted to write something I actually care about. There are many people who are happy to share their views online, and as I have grown older, I’ve increasingly found that I simply can’t be bothered to chip in on Instagram or Facebook. Of course, I like to wish my friends happy birthday, and maybe I’ll send a funny meme to a friend to mess with their algorithm. But there is one subject that I feel it’s my duty as a musician and music educator to speak out on, and that is drum roll, you’ve guessed it- AI music.
The other day, I was sent a video of a man reacting to a Bruno Mars song that had been re-imagined as a “soul” version. Hang on, isn’t Bruno Mars’ new album inspired by 70s soul? I could tell immediately it was AI-generated and found it pretty unbearable. So, straight to the comments I go, and I was amazed to find people commenting love heart emojis and expressions of joy. Some comments say, “love it 🔥” and “they are so good!”. I can’t help but feel that maybe people haven’t heard Bruno’s original version of “I Just Might”, which is of course already soul music before AI got its pixelated hands on it. I couldn’t help but comment on the video: “stop listening to AI music.” I am very much up for people doing new arrangements of existing pieces and putting a quirky spin on things. But the keyword there is “people”. Someone then responded to my comment and said, “You don’t have to worry about the insane prices for concerts.” So, let’s talk about this.
If you know me, you’ll know I’m a huge Bruno Mars fan. I have wanted to see him live ever since I first saw a video of him performing live at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in 2011. Well that dream came true for me this year at Wembley Stadium in London. His show was pure class. He was dripping in charisma, stage presence, dance moves and musicality. Accompanied by The Hooligans, who are all equally as hip, Mr Mars had me grinning from start to finish. These guys have likely been playing their instruments since the first 10 years of their lives and have lived and breathed music since. Of course, it goes without saying that they would have put thousands of hours into creating a level of fluency on their instruments that you can’t even imagine. They would have studied points of music that you could easily forget about in your day-to-day listening: Tone and
timbre, written music, ear training, musical arrangement, dynamics, styles and genres, vibrato, sensitivity, technique, rhythms from across the world, harmony, superimposition, reharmonisation, extended range, idiosyncrasies, musical equipment; the list goes on. Then on top of that, I’m watching pro-level musicians who are moving in unison to choreography that isn’t cheesy or cringey but so slick that I can’t help but try and copy it when I get home. Their outfits and styles have been carefully thought of to create a uniform look. The lights and pyro have been perfectly synchronised using time code so that every accent and hit is electrifying. The sound engineers have meticulously chosen the appropriate microphones for each instrument, of which there are many: trombone, sax, trumpet, drum kit, keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, percussion, vocals, acoustic guitar. Each channel on the desk, perfectly compressed and EQ’d so we could hear everything as we should in a building big enough to fit the entire population of Monaco, Liechtenstein and Gibraltar all at once.
I was completely overwhelmed experiencing this in the flesh, and I’m not ashamed to admit that a little tear was shed. That’s how much I was in awe of this show. And I wasn’t alone. There were tens of thousands of other fans that clearly felt the same way.
What an incredible feeling- to enjoy something that much, in a time and place where, on the outside of those walls, things aren’t so easy.
We are surrounded by uncertainty. Nations are at war; we are in a cost of living crisis; fuel companies announce record billions of pounds worth of profit whilst some people can’t afford to put petrol in their car to go to work. AI data centres are using up millions of gallons of water, yet some countries don’t have a clean supply of it. Yet, all of this goes away, just for a brief while, whilst I am standing there in Wembley Stadium. Sure, I can’t escape it forever. But surely it’s okay to play ignorant for a few hours and just enjoy being human for a bit? Are concerts expensive? Yes. I spent £160 on a ticket for this show so I could be in the golden circle at the front. I also spent £200 this month on my council tax. I know people who spend £100 down the pub on a Friday night. So, I guess it’s all about where you want to prioritise spending your money, right? But the fact that this guy had responded to my comment by implying that listening to AI music means you don’t need to go to concerts was baffling.
If we can’t go and watch the music that we love, the artists that inspire us or listen to the bands that bring us nostalgia and the songs that make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, what is the point? If we can’t enjoy the arts that have been created by other human minds and souls, why are we here? I don’t think we’re here to go to work, come home, listen to music created by a robot and go to sleep. At a time when existential threat is mentioned in the news every day, isn’t the most important thing for us to do right now to enjoy the things that make us human? AI music is not human. It has stolen from humans. It has not spent years developing a sensitivity and heart to create something that can only possibly be created by a human. It did not grind for hours working on a difficult passage to play or work on a specific technique that has taken years to perfect. It has not been obsessed with trying to create something unique, inspirational and challenging. It isn’t trying to tell a story. It isn’t trying to be musical. It doesn’t have feel. It doesn’t have nuance. It doesn’t have mistakes. It doesn’t have any of the things that Bruno and his band are bringing to the table. And that is exactly why I would spend that money to go and watch them again.
We need music now more than we have ever needed it. We especially need live music. To connect us, bring us together, escape from reality for a while and to remind ourselves why we’re here.
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