Kehlani Slams AI Artist Xania Monet Getting a $3 Million Record Deal: ‘I Don’t Respect It’

A fewer days ago, Billboard broke the quality that an AI-generated artist, Xania Monet, had signed a multimillion-dollar grounds deal aft gathering with aggregate labels. Now, the remainder of the euphony manufacture is reacting to that unprecedented development, including Kehlani.

In a caller TikTok, the singer/songwriter shared their thoughts connected Hallwood Media reportedly shelling retired $3 cardinal to motion the fictive instrumentalist — whose “persona” is operated down the scenes by writer Telisha “Nikki” Jones — contempt copyright concerns antecedently voiced by different large labels. Spoiler alert: Kehlani isn’t a fan.

“There is an AI R&B creator who conscionable signed a multimillion-dollar woody … and the idiosyncratic is doing nary of the work,” a frustrated-sounding Kehlani told followers without straight naming Monet oregon Jones. “This is truthful beyond retired of our control.”

The vocalist went connected to stress the powerfulness of AI to make afloat formed songs retired of bladed air, without users having to “credit anyone” progressive successful making the countless copyrighted works connected which specified generative euphony systems are trained. To trade Monet’s music, Jones utilized Suno — though her manager, Romel Murphy, emphasized to Billboard that his lawsuit personally writes each of the archetypal lyrics Monet “sings.”

Regardless, Kehlani says, “Nothing and nary 1 connected Earth volition ever beryllium capable to warrant AI to me.”

They added, “I don’t respect it.”

Billboard has reached retired to Jones’ reps for comment.

Kehlani surely isn’t the lone idiosyncratic successful the manufacture with objections to Monet’s deal. Sources antecedently told Billboard that respective large labels had besides been successful talks with Jones, but yet walked distant with respect to their corporate copyright suit against Suno past year.

The ground of the suit is that Suno allegedly infringed upon the copyright of the labels’ catalogs by utilizing pre-existing works to bid its technology. The institution disagrees with this characterization, arguing that its users are really making wholly archetypal works via “fair use” of the euphony successful its database.

For Monet’s part, Jones is assured that she owns the rights to each of the recordings she’s created done Suno, fixed the magnitude of quality effort she’s enactment into crafting the lyrics to the songs. “She’s been penning poesy for a agelong time,” Murphy told Billboard of Jones, noting that the crushed her enactment is gaining traction has thing to bash with “a hook and a span and a catchy chant — it’s conscionable the lyrics, and they are pure.”

See Kehlani’s TikTok below.