AI ‘Actor’ Tilly Norwood Releases the Worst Song I’ve Ever Heard

When the production company Particle6 introduced its AI-generated “actor” Tilly Norwood last fall, Hollywood was not impressed.

“Good Lord, we’re screwed,” said Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt in an interview with Variety. “Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop.”

Particle6 ignored Blunt’s advice. Instead, they released a music video for their AI character, featuring a song titled “Take the Lead.”

Upon hearing it, I genuinely consider it the worst song I’ve ever encountered.

I expected Norwood’s musical debut to resemble “How Was I Supposed to Know?” by another AI persona, Xania Monet, which made waves on the Billboard R&B charts. Xania Monet’s AI-generated music isn’t my type, even when its lyrics are allegedly written by a person — I prefer music that can exist independently from AI generators like Suno. But Norwood’s song has reached a new height of AI cringe.

Eighteen people worked on the video for “Take the Lead,” including designers, prompters, and editors. The song, however, is about Tilly’s challenges as an AI-generated character underestimated by critics who don’t consider her human.

“They say it’s not real, that it’s fake,” Norwood asserts to the camera. “But I am still human, make no mistake.”

To be frank, that is false.

Music doesn’t have to be relatable to everyone, but it should at least resonate with someone. The most striking aspect of Norwood’s song is that her team managed to create a song about an experience no human can relate to — being disregarded for being an AI.

The song, resembling a Sara Bareillis rip-off, begins with the lines, “When they talk about me, they don’t see/The human spark, the creativity.” The song builds as Norwood reassures herself, “I’m not a puppet, I’m the star.”

The chorus sees Norwood addressing her fellow AI actors:

Actors, it’s time to take the lead
Create the future, plant the seed
Don’t be left out, don’t fall behind
Build your own, and you’ll be free
We can scale, we can grow
Be the creators we’ve always known
It’s the next evolution, can’t you see?
AI’s not the enemy, it’s the key

In the video, Norwood walks through a data center, the only part grounded in any reality. As the second chorus hits with a key change, she strides across a stage, facing a stadium of cheering simulated people who give her a false sense of “triumph.”

One might argue Norwood is trying to appeal to all actors, not just AI characters. But the outro makes it clear this is a rallying cry from Tilly to her AI kin:

Take your power, take the stage
The next evolution is all the rage
Unlock it all, don’t hesitate
AI Actors, we create our fate

We don’t need this. We don’t need music from an AI persona addressing other AI personas with a hopeful anthem about proving judgmental humans wrong.