Liza Minnelli’s first music in 13 years is an AI dance track
Liza Minnelli has finally released new music, but the song has taken a direction nobody could have predicted: ‘Kids, Wait Til You Hear This’ is a dance track made entirely by AI.
The song, which also shares the title of her upcoming memoir, is an experiment into deep house. Over the sonic shake, Minnelli provides her own spoken declarations.
The 79-year-old singer hasn’t released new music since 2013; at that time, she performed a track for the US TV drama Smash.
Since then, she has expressed support for ElevenLabs, the company behind the song. She wrote of them on Facebook, “A six billion dollar techno behemoth [doing] amazing things … What I will not allow this great company to do? Create, clone or copy my voice! … We used AI arrangements. Not AI vocals … The shout outs are all mine!”
According to Deadline, the ‘New York, New York’ singer built trust with ElevenLabs after the startup re-created the voice of her mother.
In a press release, she elaborated on her decision to partner with the company, writing, “I’ve always believed that music is about connection and emotional truth. What interested me here was the idea of using my voice and new tools in service of expression, not instead of it.”
Minnelli added, “This project respects the artist’s voice, the artist’s choices, and the artist’s ownership. I grew up watching my parents create wonderful dreams that were owned by other people. ElevenLabs makes it possible for anyone to be a creator and owner. That matters.”
Art Garfunkel is also included on the release, speaking an excerpt from his memoir, What Is It All But Luminous, paying tribute to his father over an AI piano.
ElevenLabs is also working with a range of actors, both dead and alive, to launch a new so-called ‘Iconic Voice Marketplace’, where the voices of Hollywood stars are utilised for different commercial purposes. Michael Caine is one of the first actors to allow his voice to be cloned.
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