Artificial intelligence is slowly taking over every aspect of our lives, and it’s finally coming for the music industry. The AI-generated track “Heart On My Sleeve” imagines the world where The Weeknd and Drake recorded a song by each other’s side—and it stirred a lot of controversy along the way.
“Heart On My Sleeve” was shared by the TikTok user @ghostwriter977, who claims he’s here to “turn the music industry upside down.” He’s definitely succeeding, since “Heart On My Sleeve” blew up in a matter of hours and generated 13 million views on TikTok alone—before being removed from this social media website and several streaming platforms.
The low-fi quality and questionable lyrics, such as “I came in with my ex like Selena to flex, aye / Bumpin’ Justin Bieber the fever ain’t left, aye” make it pretty clear this song isn’t real, but that didn’t stop it from becoming an overnight sensation.
“Heart On My Sleeve” also started a conversation about the use of AI to mimic the voice and style of popular artists. Universal Music even addressed the controversy, condemning the violation of copyright laws that goes hand in hand with AI-generated music.
The Weeknd and Drake didn’t publicly address the controversy, but the Canadian rapper previously made it clear he’s not a fan of AI-generated songs. After the AI-generated remix of him rapping to Ice Spice’s “Munch” went viral, Drake responded by writing, “This is the final straw AI.”
