05 August 2023 , 04:20
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Damon Albarn has warned that musicians could resort to taking drugs in order to compete against music that is being made by artificial intelligence.
The 55-year-old chart topping star has been the frontman of Blur since 1988 and electro-pop group Gorillaz since 1998. While the singer has enjoyed worldwide success with both groups, the music landscape has changed in recent years - not least with the advent of A.I.
Damon says he has been left shaken by fake cover versions of songs created by A.I to emulate singers of years gone by like Frank Sinatra - as well as existing performers like Michael Buble and Snoop Dogg. He argues that for modern day musicians to compete with the beats being laid out by computers, they may have to become more experimental than ever before.
Speaking to The Sun, he explained: “It’s absurd. Anyone who has so much time to sing songs through a Michael Buble filter and put them on the internet is a f***ing idiot. If the AIs are the future of music, we’re gonna need better drugs to get us through it!”
Damon Albarn has hit out at the use of A.I in music (AFP via Getty Images)Blur have been enjoying a resurgence in recent weeks with the release of their Number One album The Ballad of Darren - their first record in eight years - and a huge series of summer shows, festival performances, and huge headline shows at Wembley Stadium.
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While Blur might be one of the biggest bands to make it out of the UK, it seems they feel conflicted about Britain because of Brexit. Frontman Damon, 55, says he hates the fact that the group is described as a ‘Britpop’ band - a titled shared by chart rivals Oasis - because he hates the ‘Brit’ aspect of the moniker due to Brexit.
He told fans at a concert in Webley earlier this month: “Maybe everyone can kind of sense in Europe that we’re not Brexiteers, you know? Maybe there’s a change happening in the country.
“Maybe finally, we’re going to have a bit of a shift back to a more Eurocentric, a more reasonable, a more - dare I say - cultured approach to governments. Fingers crossed.”
He told fans that he finds the resurgence of Britpop “irritating” and considers himself “more Europop than Britpop”.
The band have been in a reflective mood of late, and admitted they almost blew their chance at success when their early music failed to connect with audiences. The band released album Modern Life Is Rubbish in 1993 which bombed on release and in a new Britpop documentary admit they were on their “last chance” with record company bosses.
Drummer Dave Rowntree said: “Dave Balfe, the record label head, he sent us a warning letter. We were on our last chance.”
And bass player Alex James added: “They had to officially notify you if you don’t buck up your ideas, we’re going to drop you, that’s it, and then they will write you the one that’s saying you’re dropped. They basically… they wrote the one saying ‘If you don’t buck up your ideas, we’re going to drop you’, and we were really, really close to being dropped.”