Fake Drake song highlights a real problem

The Future. “Heart on My Sleeve,” a song that uses AI-created vocals from Drake and The Weeknd, became an unexpected hit over the weekend. Considering that it actually sounds like something Drake would release (yeah, the vocals are pretty spot on), the song’s success could usher in a new era where fans may have to double-check if the new single they’re listening to is truly from the artist themselves.

Programmed bop
Is a fake Drake about to make it on the charts?

• A masked producer, who goes by “Ghostwriter,” posted a song on TikTok called “Heart on My Sleeve” that features deepfaked voices of Drake and The Weeknd.
• The video blew up, raking in millions of views, while the song is being used in hundreds of thousands of other videos. 
• On Spotify, it has over a quarter of a million listens.

And knowing that the song can be taken down at any moment, Ghostwriter put up a link on a platform called Laylo to download it. He also posted on his TikTok that “this is just the beginning.”

Certified Fake Boy
While some think the song could be a huge marketing stunt by Drake, that just doesn’t seem to track. He was not too happy about a remix of Ice Spice’s “Munch” that also used an AI generation of his voice, writing on Instagram, “this is the final straw AI.”

And with Drake and The Weeknd both releasing music through Universal Music Group, which has been aggressive about combating the rise of AI databases using its music to train its systems, expect this song to get muted quickly.