Credit: Press

Holly Herndon releases AI cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’

Thu 3 November 2022 10:30, UK

Experimental musician Holly Herndon is no stranger to dipping her toes into new and strange ideas; after all, her 2015 album Platform was the first commercially released album to contain a track designed to trigger ASMR.

Herndon’s latest project, Proto, was released in 2019. The album used an AI program called Spawn which Herndon and her partner Mat Dryhurst created with the intention of making the technology less “dehumanising”.

However, Herndon has just released a cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ using an AI version of her voice. In her quest to humanise AI technology, an incredibly emotional and human song such as ‘Jolene’ was probably the wrong choice. There is an uncanniness to Herndon’s vocals on the track, which lack the passion and sentiment required to do the song justice.

The song was created by Herndon’s AI deepfake twin, Holly+, a website where any polyphonic audio can be uploaded and translated into Herndon’s voice. Upon the release of Holly+ last year, Herndon said: “Vocal deepfakes are here to stay. A balance needs to be found between protecting artists, and encouraging people to experiment with a new and exciting technology.”

She continued: “That is why we are running this experiment in communal voice ownership. […] In stepping in front of a complicated issue, we think we have found a way to allow people to perform through my voice, reduce confusion by establishing official approval, and invite everyone to benefit from the proceeds generated from its use.”

Herndon’s creation is undoubtedly fascinating, especially regarding the attention paid to questions of ownership and legality. Whilst it’s a fun piece of technology with plenty of potential, Herndon’s cover of ‘Jolene’ leaves much to be desired.

‘Jolene’ is accompanied by Ryan Norris on guitar and a music video by Sam Rolfes. The artist used motion capture technology to create a 3D animation of Herndon, the perfect visuals for such a unique take of the track.

Check it out below.