When Particle6 introduced its AI-generated "actor" Tilly Norwood last fall, Hollywood's reaction was far from enthusiastic. "Good Lord, we’re screwed," remarked Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt in an interview with Variety. "Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop."

Unfortunately, Particle6 did not heed Blunt's plea. The company has now released a music video for its AI character, featuring a track titled "Take the Lead."

This is not an exaggeration. After listening, I genuinely believe it may be the worst song I have ever encountered. I expected Norwood's musical debut to resemble something like "How Was I Supposed to Know," the AI-generated song credited to digital persona Xania Monet, which gained attention after appearing on the Billboard R&B charts. While Xania Monet's AI-produced music isn't to my taste—even if its lyrics are reportedly written by a human—I generally prefer music that could exist without tools like Suno. However, Norwood's song reaches a new tier of AI-induced awkwardness. Eighteen individuals contributed to the "Take the Lead" video, including designers, prompt engineers, and editors. Yet the song focuses on Tilly's struggles as an AI-generated character whom critics dismiss for not being human. "They say it’s not real, that it’s fake," Norwood declares to the camera. "But I am still human, make no mistake."

To put it mildly, that statement is incorrect. Music doesn't need to resonate with everyone, but it should likely connect with at least one person. What stands out about Norwood's song is how her team crafted a track about an experience no human could ever have—the feeling of being underestimated for being an AI. The song, which echoes a Sara Bareilles imitation, begins with the lyrics, "When they talk about me, they don’t see/The human spark, the creativity." It progresses as Norwood asserts, "I’m not a puppet, I’m the star."

Then arrives the chorus, where Norwood addresses other AI actors:

Actors, it’s time to take the lead Create the future, plant the seed Don’t be left out, don’t fall behind Build your own, and you’ll be free We can scale, we can grow Be the creators we’ve always known It’s the next evolution, can’t you see AI’s not the enemy, it’s the key

In the video, Norwood confidently walks down a hallway in a data center—arguably the only authentic moment in the production. When the second chorus arrives with a predictable key change, she strides across a stage, gazing out at a stadium of cheering synthetic figures who grant her an unearned "triumphant" moment.

One might argue that Norwood aims to appeal to all actors, not just AI ones. However, the outro makes it clear this is a call to action from Tilly to her AI counterparts:

Take your power, take the stage The next evolution is all the rage Unlock it all, don’t hesitate AI Actors, we create our fate

This is unnecessary. We do not need music from an AI persona directing an uplifting anthem at other AI personas about collaborating to disprove skeptical humans.

Two decades ago, the respected music outlet Pitchfork awarded Jet’s album "Shine On" a 0.0 out of 10. Rather than publishing a review, they simply embedded a YouTube clip of a monkey urinating into its own mouth. While the Jet album isn't terrible, Pitchfork editor Scott Plagenhoef clarified in a 2024 interview why the site's writers were so frustrated at the time. "Seeing mainstream rock music, which of course most of us had grown up with a fondness for, become so knuckle-dragging and Xeroxed was disappointing," he explained. These are the same grievances artists now voice about AI-generated works—such productions feel empty and merely replicate past artistry. "'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor; it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers - without permission or compensation," stated SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, last fall. "It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ - it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry." Whereas Jet drew inspiration from earlier rock bands to create its "knuckle-dragging and Xeroxed" music, Tilly Norwood is directly built from AI models that rely on training data taken from artists without consent. Pitchfork may have acted prematurely. Twenty years later, they have finally found a subject worthy of such critique.