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Drake, Ariana, Michael Jackson: TikTok’s most popular AI generated song covers, ranked

Kanye singing Made You Look by Meghan Trainor will haunt me on my death bed


AI-generated song covers are taking over everyone’s For You Pages on TikTok right now. Drake, Kanye, Ariana, Michael Jackson— whether you like them or not, no pop music icon (cancelled, or otherwise) has escaped being loaded up into a music-making software and belting out another artist’s songs.

So, in honour of the trend that gifted (cursed) us with Kanye West’s rendition of Made You Look by Meghan Trainor, here are the top ten viral AI song covers on TikTok, ranked by the thousands of likes they’ve collected so far:

10. Ariana Grande – Call Out My Name (The Weeknd) 

Immediately, this feels like things are falling apart. Ariana is (artificially) belting out Call Out My Name by The Weeknd (31.9k likes) but on certain words the voice just totally falters. When she gets to “I want you” the last word escapes like a gust of wind. Meanwhile “stay” and “name” suddenly screech into full robot voice.

Pop stars of the future really don’t need to worry about their jobs being nicked by AI if this is the result.

@thekasimsyed

(It’s not perfect, but) Here’s an A.I cover of Ariana Grande singing “Call Out My Name” by “The Weeknd”. What do you think? #arianagrande #theweeknd #ai #aicover #music

♬ original sound – Kontrol

9. Kanye West – Hey There Delilah (Plain White T’s) 

Ok, this Kanye cover of Hey There Delilah might be the worst one (45.5k likes). It has people in the comments “sobbing” but it makes me want to rip my eardrums out. The world never asked for this.

8. Kanye West – One Dance (Drake) 

Sort of slaps but simultaneously sort of sounds like everything else in the charts ever, rather than a technological masterpiece (48k likes).

7. Ariana Grande – Controlla (Drake)

Every now and again in this Ariana cover of Drake’s Controlla (109.2k likes) you can kind of here an auto-tune-esque glitch that reminds you a machine is cooking this cover up. Not the worst thing I’ve ever heard but it definitely sounds like Artificial Intelligence, rather than a Radio 1 Live Lounge.

@themusicexpress

ariana ai back at is again with the controlla cover. Should i release the full song? #fyp #foryourpage #ai #arianagrande

♬ original sound – garytheproducer

6. Michael Jackson – Starboy (The Weeknd) 

Eerily, from beyond the grave, Michael Jackson is also really popular when it comes to AI covers. It’s been said that The Weeknd sounds like a younger version of MJ before. So, this cover of  Starboy (114.2k likes) kind of makes sense. There are better examples of their AI collab further down the list, though.

@thekasimsyed

Replying to @wolfry°21 Say less. Here’s an A.I cover of Michael Jackson singing “Starboy” by The Weeknd. #TheWeeknd #MichaelJackson #AI #AICover #Music #XOTWOD

♬ original sound – Kontrol

5. Kanye West – Summertime Sadness (Lana del Rey) 

Never did I ever think I’d hear Kanye West saying he’s got his “red dress on tonight” but thanks to the power of AI, here we are. His cover of Lana del Rey’s Summer Time Sadness is at 272.1k likes – but if you asked me who was meant to be singing, with my eyes closed I’d have no idea. Seems like a bit of a flop?

4. Michael Jackson – Die For You (The Weeknd) 

Die For You has 280.1k likes and the MJ cover is super realistic, which ngl is kind of scary.

@rodry_euuu

Michael Jackson – Die For You (The Weeknd ia cover) – Goularta Studio #michaeljackson #kingofpop

♬ Die For You – The Weeknd

3. Drake – Cupid (Fifty Fifty) 

Another big hitter on this list is Drake, who’s both covered by and covers other artists. Learning Korean in the AI world, his version of Fifty Fifty’s Cupid has 208.1 k likes and sounds hilariously upbeat for a man who predominantly performs in monotone. Sort of love the chaos.

2. Ariana Grande – Kill Bill (SZA) 

Absolutely dominating the AI covers list, Ariana is also in second place with a cover of Kill Bill by SZA (301.3k likes). It’s OK but not as good as the original.

1. Ariana Grande – Everytime (Chen & Punch) 

First in this TikTok top ten of AI-generated covers is Ariana Grande singing K-pop song Everytime by Chen & Punch. Yup, thanks to technology, she’s also fluent in Korean now, which is kind of cool. The cover itself is super echoey, though. Like, more reverb than a Zoom call where someone’s forgotten to turn their mic off. Can’t argue with 721.6k likes, though.

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