AI Song Covers

About

AI Song Covers, also known as AI Music Covers or AI Cover Songs, refers to a series of AI-generated songs that use artificial intelligence voice generators (like ElevenLabs AI) to make celebrities, fictional characters and various musicians and singers sing or rap recognizable songs by placing their AI voice over a blank instrumental. AI covers trended en masse in early 2023 on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, following the rise in AI Music memes (such as the AI Drake and The Weeknd song "Heart On My Sleeve"). Some of the most notable AI covers in 2023 featured Kanye 'Ye' West and AI covers of Ice Spice's "Munch." The first AI covers were uploaded in mid-2021 and used the AI system uberduck.ai. One of the first viral AI covers was of "Hey There Deliah" using the voice of then-recently deceased rapper Juice Wrld.

Origin

Uberduck.ai

Starting in mid-2021, YouTubers^[8][9] started posting AI-generated rap songs using the AI voice system Uberduck.ai.^[1] Currently, the first discovered, viral, AI song cover was a video uploaded by YouTuber^[2] Swiper on July 7th, 2021, that was an AI cover of "Hey There Deliah" by the Plain White T's but with the voice of then-recently deceased rapper Juice Wrld. The video was called "AI WRLD – Hey There Delilah ft. Plain White T's" and it received reposts to Twitter^[3] and TikTok^[4] in the week that followed.

The video was removed from YouTube sometime in 2022, however, on July 9th, 2021, TikToker^[4] @txny999 posted an 18-second-long snippet of the AI cover, gaining roughly 2.6 million plays and 499,800 likes in two years. Additionally, other YouTubers reposted the song cover whose videos are still accessible in the year 2023. For instance, on July 11th, 2021, YouTuber^[5] Rain uploaded a "Cleanest version" of the cover, gaining roughly 58,000 views in two years (shown below).

Spread

AI Juice Wrld Covers

Following the AI Juice Wrld cover's virality, more AI Juice Wrld covers surfaced online. For instance, on September 3rd, 2021, TikToker^[6] @forevercartii posted an AI Juice Wrld cover of Polo G's "RAPSTAR," gaining roughly 4.3 million plays and 789,900 likes in a year and a half. On January 1st, 2022, YouTuber^[7] StarTv NG uploaded an AI Juice Wrld cover of "Death Bed" by Powfu, gaining roughly 151,000 views and 4,000 likes in one year (shown below).

Elevenlabs AI

Despite early AI covers made with Uberduck.ai,^[1] viral AI song covers didn't become commonplace until early 2023, following the release of Elevenlabs AI which caused a surge in AI-generated voice memes such as AI Presidents Gaming and AI Voice Game Modding, among others.

AI Kanye Covers

AI song covers using Elevenlabs started to populate YouTube and TikTok en masse starting in March 2023. For instance, many of the early, viral, AI covers in March 2023 used Kanye West's voice. One of the earliest was uploaded by YouTuber^[10] 6ex on March 17th, being an AI Kanye cover of "Gary Come Home" from the SpongeBob soundtrack, gaining roughly 729,300 views and 47,000 likes in one month (shown below, left). On March 19th, 2023, YouTuber^[11] Kanye Bot uploaded an AI Kanye cover of Mustard and Roddy Ricch's song "Ballin'" (prevalent in the Animan Studios meme), gaining roughly 512,000 views and 28,000 likes in one month (shown below, right).

AI Ice Spice Covers / AI Drake "Munch (Feelin' U) Cover

Going into April 2023, more, viral, AI covers landed on YouTube and TikTok. For instance, many AI covers of Ice Spice songs, such as "Munch (Feelin' U)" and "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2," went viral within the timeframe, the first of which was a video uploaded by YouTuber^[12] Phil on April 2nd, 2023, that was an AI Drake voice covering "Munch (Feelin' U)." In two weeks, the video gained roughly 25,400 views before being removed from the platform.^[12]

The song's removal was likely due to copyright claims as well as Drake himself reacting to the song on social media, covered by news outlets like The Financial Times^[13] and HipHopDX in a YouTube^[14] video uploaded by its channel on April 14th (shown below, left). Despite the AI Drake cover's removal, YouTuber^[15] Phil uploaded a Kanye version of "Munch (Feelin' U)" a few weeks prior on March 21st, that wasn't removed, gaining roughly 17,600 views in one month (shown below, right).

Other AI Covers

Going into April 2023, AI song covers became a dominant trend online, using the voices of various celebrities, fictional characters and singers. For instance, on April 20th, 2023, TikToker^[16] @ai.emporium posted an AI Obama cover of "Let It Go" from Frozen, gaining roughly 134,900 plays and 10,800 likes in one week (shown below, left). On April 26th, 2023, TikToker^[17] @skapresident uploaded an AI cover of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" using the voice of Mordecai from Regular Show, earning roughly 51,400 plays and 10,300 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References