Teddy Swims has revealed that he sometimes uses AI to make music.
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Speaking at an in-conversation keynote address at South by Southwest Sydney (SXSW Sydney) recently, he shared that while in the city, his producers back in LA were able to use AI to change a song lyric.
“Rather than me going [to] the studio and doing the line 15 times and spending that time and money and effort, he’s actually been able to go in and just change the word,” Swims said, per ABC AU. “And something small like that, I think AI has been very helpful.”
Swims also said that he has used AI to assist in writing while on the road. “What we’ll do is maybe just take an acoustic and write the melody and the lyrics and just get the song done and upload it into it and say, ‘OK, I want to hear this song as a country song’ or ‘I want to hear this song as a rock and roll song’,” he explained.
“Instead of taking time to reproduce something over and over and over again in so many different ways that would take months sometimes to do, you can get the idea of what something would be fully fleshed out in this lane.
“If you use it the correct way, I think it’s a beautiful tool,” he said.
He also went on to highlight the dangers of AI, saying that entirely AI-generated artists are not something he was “super pumped” about, and he has come across several “goofy” AI videos of himself.
However, he added that he did find one where he thought the chorus was “really excellent”, saying: “And I was like, I could probably just maybe take this chorus and rework it and write some verses to it,” Swims said.
He then explained that he called the creator and asked if he could use it, assuming he would be allowed, as it was his voice on the track, but learnt that he would have to seek the rights and permission from them.
“And I was like ‘well, that just sounds like bullshit,’” he added.
Earlier this month, it was reported that a new study found that 97 per cent of people “can’t tell the difference” between real and AI music. A “first-of-its-kind” survey asked around 9,000 people from eight different countries around the world, to listen to three tracks to determine which was fully AI-generated.
The stats come during a period of continued controversy for AI technology in the music industry, with a recent study sharing the stark warning that people working in music are likely to lose a quarter of their income to Artificial Intelligence over the next four years.
In September, Spotify confirmed that it was cracking down on AI by removing 75million “spammy tracks” and targeting impersonators. This followed a report claiming that AI-generated songs were being uploaded to dead musicians’ Spotify profiles without permission.
As for Swims, the singer released his second album, ‘I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)’, in January. To celebrate the release, he has already played numerous shows throughout this year, and will be wrapping up the tour with further stops in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Dubai.
‘I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)’ was given a four-star review by NME which read: “The swiftly released follow-up staves off a bad case of sequelitis because it successfully deepens Swims’ story.
“He’s ‘coming from more of a healed spot’ now, as he put it to NME backstage at Reading Festival last summer; opener ‘Not Your Man’, with its thunderous percussion and ominous, rolling bassline, certainly sounds like the work of a man emboldened by world domination,” it added.
His signature sound also earned him a spot on the ‘Bose x NME: C24’ mixtape with the doo-wop-inspired, contemporary pop ballad ‘Funeral, and since then he has also opened up about the struggle of balancing taking time off to welcome a baby.
Swims has also recently announced details of a huge tour for the UK and Ireland next summer.
