Kesha, following the fallout between her and music producer Dr. Luke, has transformed herself from a creator of fun club anthems to a highly-respected artist, activist and symbol of persevering through abuse. In many fans’ eyes, she could do no wrong, as her drive for creative output despite everything she’d gone through was undeniably inspirational for those who have ever felt powerless in their lives.
However, Kesha’s endless goodwill was tested earlier this week upon the announcement of her newest single, “Delusional.” In her posts about the song on Instagram and Twitter, the pop artist included an image that to a lot of her fans seemed… suspicious.
The image showcases a pile of brown leather bags laying in the street with the song’s name spray painted across them. As one will quickly notice, though, many of the bags display blatantly misspelled versions of the word “delusional,” whether it be the inclusion of extra letters or the exclusion of letters altogether. If the song is called “Delusional,” then why are the bags implying that it’s actually called “Dellusonal” or “Delushial?”
Well, as many were quick to point out, jumbling words is a common malfunction of artificial intelligence programs such as Midjourney. This would mean that Kesha, or at least her marketing team, willingly used a tool to haphazardly rush out a product rather than take the time to make something coherent and professional. After all, how hard would it be to buy some bags and spray paint them? Surely, with as many working photographers there are and the funds Kesha’s marketing team likely has access to, this could have been accomplished in a week, at most.
This, as well as the fact that AI notoriously uses the published work of other artists to “inspire” its output, didn’t sit well with Kesha’s audience. Considering how beloved the singer was for her unabashed passion in her art, being associated with something so soulless wasn’t a good look for her or her brand. As catalogued by NME, responses from fans include “kesha ilysm but never use ai ever again… not only it has many errors, it is also disrespectful to designers” by @keshaorder and “as a visual artist im offended” by @kaxishk, both on Twitter.
While this an incredibly disappointing move on Kesha’s part, hopefully the criticism she’s received because of it will teach her to steer far away from AI in the future.
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