Liza Minnelli adds vocals to AI-created deep house track tied to memoir

Liza Minnelli has released her first new music in 13 years, adding spoken vocals to an AI-created deep house track titled Kids, Wait Til You Hear This, which is also the title of her upcoming memoir. Minnelli, 79, last released music in 2013 when she performed a track for the US TV musical drama Smash.

On her Facebook page she praised the company behind the track, ElevenLabs, calling it “a six billion dollar techno behemoth [doing] amazing things”, and wrote: “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!” In a press release she said the project used new tools “in service of expression, not instead of it” and that it “respects the artist’s voice, the artist’s choices, and the artist’s ownership.” The track is part of a compilation of music created or modified by AI that also features Art Garfunkel.

His contribution, Authorship, uses a spoken excerpt from his memoir What Is It All But Luminous over an AI piano backing; Garfunkel said the experience showed “the human remains at the centre. My voice plus the technology simply opens another door.” The releases come amid industry concerns that AI-generated music could threaten musicians’ employment or imitate others without proper compensation, comments echoed by artists including Ed Sheeran and Lil Wayne in the coverage.

Key Topics

Culture, Liza Minnelli, Elevenlabs, Generative Ai, Deep House, Art Garfunkel