Anyone who has come into contact with the Sony Kpop Demon Hunters phenomenon knows how much music (fundamental in the story of a K-pop trio with a demonic threat) has contributed to its huge success. Not by chance, for what is currently the most watched movie on Netflix, directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans have relied on music producers such as Teddy Park, Lindgren and Stephen Kirk, who have worked with some of the most influential K-pop groups of the time, from BTS to BlackPink to TWICE. It is no surprise, therefore, that the soundtrack reached the peaks of the music charts, obtaining billions of ratings on the main streaming platforms and that Golden, the song-symbol of the Oscar-winning film, won the Best Track Award at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards, also becoming the first K-pop song to win a Grammy.
However, despite Netflix being fully aware of the central role of music in the film (to the point of publishing a “karaoke” version), it did not propose adaptations of songs in the various target languages, a habitual practice especially in products that intercept a younger audience. To satisfy the request for translation, of course, were the same fans who, in addition to proposing traditional cover in various languages (in Italy one of the most successful creators, with millions of video views, is ItsKlyo), have mainly used artificial intelligence software to create voices and videos as close as possible to the originals. For example, on Spotify, GamBeat describes himself as “a project that transforms anime and video games into original English. True emotions and a mix of traditional production and sound created with AI: every song is a love letter to the stories that made us dream… or a reason to dance”.
In addition to those of Kpop Demon Hunters, GamBeat’s prolific Youtube channel, as well as its similar ones, offers adaptations of sigles and songs of various anime and video games, from Final Fantasy (to whose automation system through AI the channel owes its name), to Death Note at Expedition 33. Following the rules of the platform, in the descriptions of individual videos on YouTube then, all these profiles express the use of artificial intelligence (usually Suno per l’audio e Vidu per il video), often attaching invitation links to the used software.
The use of artificial intelligence in the creation of adaptations seems to be receiving a legitimacy also from the music industry. While, in fact, in recent years, the major record companies had sued Suno and Udio for the illicit use of copyrighted material, now, they seem to be finding new ways to collaborate with AI developers. For example, Universal released a Spanish version of the song by Brenda Lee Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree at the end of 2024, created with the consent and help of the singer using MicDrop, a vocal cloning plug-in created by the collaboration with SoundLabs. Similar instruments have been used by various artists: The Westlife released a song in which they sing in Mandarin to seek success in the Chinese market, while Aloe Blacc paid tribute to Avicii on the fourth anniversary of his disappearance making a version of Wake Me Up in which he sings in different languages thanks to the help of AI. For a few years, following the example of Holly Herndon, Grimes has even published a software that allows anyone to create songs using his voice, then splitting royalties.
At the same time, some musical platforms are taking a stand against artificial intelligence generated explicitly: Bandcamp has recently banned the songs made with AI while Deezer has recently licensed the French SACEM its instrument of detection of music generated through AI and would be in negotiation to extend its use to other collective management companies. In this context, how are the adaptations made synthetically? What fate will they have, and how will they be regulated? Of course, those fans made today represent an answer from below to a need that has not yet been satisfied.
L’articolo The AI adaptations of KPop Demon Hunters tracks proviene da SentieriSelvaggi.
