Billy Joel Hypes AI in Rare Interview on CNN, Calls New AI-Generated Music Video an ‘Out-of-Body Experience’
Musician and songwriting icon Billy Joel released his first single in decades at the beginning of February, “Turn the Lights Back On,” and with it came a new video. Its use of AI to recreate Joel during different phases of his career also showed that while there is plenty to be concerned about when it comes to the emerging technology, it can also be used to create something great.
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria welcomed Joel and music producer Freddy Wexler on Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday to talk about the meaning behind “Turn the Lights Back On” and what it means for Joel’s career going forward. But the discussion about using AI for the video was also worth noting, especially Joel’s support for it:
Music videos are a way to convey the music that someone has written and someone has recorded. So I understand the purpose of it, which is why I made music videos. And Freddy came up to me with this idea of artificial intelligence, and I didn’t really know what he was talking about, but I did the recording, the video, and when I saw it, it was kind of an out-of-body experience. I saw myself going through time. It was very moving.
Wexler, who co-wrote the single with Joel, told Zakaria how he came up with the idea for the video:
The idea for it actually came to me in a dream where I imagined a young, you know, 25-year-old Billy singing the opening of the song — “Please, open the door” — and it was Billy as just a kid. And it was arresting. And he was in an empty venue. And when I woke up, I knew this had to be the video. You know, an empty venue, four Billy Joels, and us seamlessly transitioning between them, each one picking up the song where the other one left off. The question was, how in the world do you do that? And the answer: AI.
Wexler provided a detailed explanation of how this AI worked for them, how it learned Joel’s mannerisms before superimposing them on actors playing Joel at different ages.
Then Zakaria asked Joel how he felt AI affected the music:
Zakaria: So, Billy, when you’re experiencing or watching all this like, what is your thought about technology and art, and does technology detract from the art? Because you’ve generally been fairly… You don’t have a lot of tech wizardry, basically the focus has always been on the music. But here you’re taking this enormous technological leap. How did you feel about that?
Joel: I was comfortable because historically, I’m camera shy. I don’t like making videos. I don’t like having a camera on me and having to present myself visually. I’ve never been comfortable with that. And when I’m watching this video that Freddy directed, it was hard for me to believe that it wasn’t me. It was like the young me singing and I’m thinking, “I don’t remember doing this, I didn’t even know this song back then! How did they do this?”
But in a way, I was kind of hiding behind those characters, so I didn’t have to do the whole labor of the videomaking. I wasn’t feeling like, “Oh, I’m a movie star. I got to look good on the camera,” or anything because I’m very self-conscious about that. And this was kind of a way to present, this idea, with a couple of layers in it.
Watch the video above via CNN.
