Bad news! We have AI diss tracks now.

Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd. And you know what? I hope you had a good holiday. Mine was okay. Okay enough to distract me from this bullshit until this very moment, where AI artist Xania Monet, who we've talked about on the channel before, known for her Spotify-supported, algorithmically juiced, AI-generated R&B and gospel slop tunes, is now coming out and insulting actual, real human artists.

But how did we get to this point? Because there have been some developments in the Xania Monet story since we last talked about it. Like, for example, Xania's creator having this Gayle King interview where, frankly, she came across like a moron:

Telisha “Nikki” Jones: Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person.

Gayle King: But you can't sing. What do you say to people that say she may be an extension of you, but other singers who have actually worked hard, who have practiced their craft, who are really struggling to get heard, who are really doing the actual singing, that you seem to have circumvented, taken a shortcut through all of that?

Telisha “Nikki” Jones: I wouldn't call it a shortcut because I still put in the work, and I just feel like AI is the new era that we're in, and I look at it as a tool, as an instrument.

And just further illustrated how fake and how weird this whole Xania Monet thing is:

Telisha “Nikki” Jones: Slow tempo, R&B...

Gayle King: So you're saying I want slow tempo, R&B?

Voice-over: She adds a few more prompts into AI music generator Suno, like female, soulful vocals, light guitar, and heavy drums.

Telisha “Nikki” Jones: [...] And from there, you just create.

Not only is the music itself artificial, but Xania Monet doesn't even look like her creator as well.

The character is essentially a composite of various successful black women in the entertainment industry. I'll say once again, her name even feels like a rip-off of Victoria Monét's name, who actually has publicly commented saying that it's hard to believe that she wasn't used in some form or fashion when creating this character.

Thankfully, Victoria Monét is not the only artist who has been pointing out how ridiculous this AI stuff is, and specifically this Xania Monet phenomenon, because we've also had public statements from Kehlani as well as Wale recently on this:

Angela Yee: [..] and then we've seen on the R&B and gospel charts, AI artist. I just interviewed the woman who-

Wale: We got to unplug her, man.

However, the woman behind Xania Monet, or 'her voice', as it were, the person who claims to write all of this AI artist's lyrics, Telisha “Nikki” Jones, she's taking a lot of the commentary on Xania's recent success personally and has decided to write a response track. Essentially, this defensive, hurt, upset, insulting little ballad calling out the artist who understandably don't like what she's doing with this whole Xania Monet thing. And the title of it is "Say My Name With Respect".

And I thought it would make sense to go over some of the lyrics, as well as comment on the very odd video attached to it, which, of course, is also AI, and kicks off with the Xania Monet character writing the lyrics down in a non-existent studio, looking like she's fighting back tears.

Oh, no. Kehlani, you monster. How could you make the AI woman cry? Ooh, Wale, I am so angry with you, I'll show you to be mean to my favorite AI woman.

Okay, look, I'm going to be frank. We've been having some YouTube ad and YouTube copyright issues lately on the channel, which have really been a pain in the butt. So I don't know how much of the song we're actually going to play in this video. I've actually found it hard to find transcriptions of the lyrics online, too, which I think is intentional.

But again, I will say the lyrics of the song as I'm going over them on this, again, Instagram video where the comments have been limited. And of course, the top ones, which are most likely botted in some form or fashion, go something like, 'Yes, I'm going to a very hard time this year and your music is giving me life. You found a way to put exactly how we feel into words, into lyrics.PLEASE, PLEASR DONT STOP!!!!!. PLEASE KEEP GOING! KEEP WRITING! KEEP Producing all your wonderful videos and songs. WE NEED IT ALL!!!!!'

I'm sorry, but if the slop this woman is writing behind this AI character is blowing your mind and touching your soul and hitting you like no music has ever hit you before, you must have just been born yesterday, or maybe have not heard that much gospel or R&B music in your life. Because literally every Xania Monet song, point blank period, is like a dollar store version of a much better song another artist has already made. That's literally what all AI slop music is.

"Funny how you went to the media first. Talking about my pin like you know my work / You don't know the nights I cried to write or how many songs heal somebody's life?"

Okay, off the bat, we have Nikki Jones essentially justifying Xania's existence by saying, I've cried a bunch of times, and also, My music has healed people's lives before. But honestly, if all we're doing is making an argument for utility here, there are far more negative comments of people pissed off about Xania Monet, and artists who are upset hearing their music and seeing their likeness ripped off in your work, to where it actually cancels out whatever imagined good you're doing in the world with this crap. And if you actually thought your art stood up on its own merits, you wouldn't have the comments of this thing closed on Instagram.

"You say I ain't real. You say I don't create."

Yeah, you're not real. You're not a real woman. You're a completely AI-generated woman. And no, you don't create, at least not in the medium that you're trying to pitch yourself in. I'll be charitable here and say, You know what? Maybe it's absolutely 100% true that Nikki Jones does write all of Xania's lyrics. But Xania is not a poet. Xania is not even a spoken word artist. She is a singer who sings over music.

If all of this at the end of the day was about how good Nikki Jones's lyrics and poetry are, then why not write poems? Why not write a poetry book? Why not write stories? You could even just be a spoken word artist and team up with a producer who will make music for you to say your poetry on top of. All of these things are within the realm of possibility. Creative people do them every day, even people who have limitations to their abilities and resources. Why cut corners with boring, generic, low-vibration AI music with what for sure is an astroturf fan base?

"But your voice shakes a little every time you hate / Because deep down, you know I'm destined to shine / And you feel that pressure every time you hear my lines / I wasn't trying to compete, wasn't trying to compare."

Okay, the line, "I wasn't trying to compete. I wasn't trying to compare," is very funny to me. Because you literally did just compare, claiming that when Kehlani or Wale or any of these artists hear your lines, they're shaking in their boots. Your lines, your bars are just so good. Nobody can write as good as Nikki Jones.

When honestly, I haven't heard a single Xania Monet verse that read as more interesting or more entertaining than, I don't know, a Summer Walker song. But either way, what is this fake bullshit about not wanting to compete? You're literally out here insulting actual artists. And Nikki Jones has done numerous Facebook posts, basically doing a victory lap over Xania Monet's success, and also has tried to do this little side AI hustle, teaching other people to basically create their own AI music in the way that she has. If that's not competing and trying to put yourself out there and trying to climb the success ladder in the music industry, I don't know what is.

"But you keep speaking on me like I ain't right there."

You're not there! You don't exist!

"Baby, jealousy is loud when confidence is low / And you've been speaking kinda loud lately, you know / So say my name with respect / 'Cause everything you ain't expect / I didn't ask for the fame or the hype."

You're literally doing everything you can to make yourself more popular. You are beefing with actual artists for clout and closing the comment section so that you can't be criticized. But can we really be surprised that we have an AI artist lying, doing a false frame of the situation, and grifting? No, we can't because that's all AI music is, a gift.

"I didn't ask to be the one folks like, but if my words cut deep and make change / If my truth helps somebody through pain."

Look, nobody cares about these made-up DMs. You could have basically planted every single one of these. No one cares. Because again, I could find many more negative comments. These people who are freaking out over how good Xania Monet's music is, they will literally listen to anything, which I know because they're listening to Xania Monet. But also, don't get up on this pedestal and act like Xania Monet and getting into music is like your cross to bear or something.

'I didn't ask to be the one everyone liked...' because, again, you're literally doing everything you can in your power to make this music as marketable and as easily consumable as possible. There are no mistakes or false intentions in how you're pushing this. You're literally doing everything you can in your power to draw more attention to this.

"Then keep talking, baby, run your mouth, but put some respect on my name."

Fuck your name. Fuck it. There you go. Your name is shit. It's completely made up, and it's a rip-off of somebody else's name. Fuck your name. I'm not sure if it needs to be said more bluntly than that.

"You could have reached out / We could have shown love, but you chose ego instead of lifting me up / And it's sad because this industry is cold.

Oh, my God. Girl, you are not the same as these people. They are actual artists who are out there putting themselves, their actual selves, on the line every day. To be judged, to be liked or disliked, to be torn apart, you're hiding behind a fake AI woman, and nobody knows you. No one can see you.

You don't have to worry about whether or not you're healthy, how you look, how you sound, so far as whatever interfaces you're using continue to generate this same woman who you've telling them to generate over and over and over. Even the way you've instructed the AI to sing your lyrics against this instrumental is off-rhythm. It doesn't even make sense given some of the words.

"You keep saying I'm not a real artist, right? / But somehow my song still changed somebody's night / People hear me saying my lyrics save them / That's real art, don't get it mistaken."

Sounds like shit, which we should know there is literally nothing sonically and musically speaking special about this song. It is literally the same basic chords and fake digital, glamorous pop R&B instrumentation, very radio-friendly that we hear on every Xania Monet track. It's flavorless. It sucks. It's essentially unseasoned chicken, boiled chicken, but music.

I love how this woman continues to insist that the real power behind what she does is the lyrics, it's the words, it's the things that she writes. It's just her genius pen game. But she still insists on having an intro on the track and a little bridge as well, where this fake AI singer is going [garbage AI auto-tune nonsense singing]. If it was all just about the writing, why are you insisting on putting this really bad shower singing in the mix?

Yeah, whatever. Fuck this. Another piece of AI trash we all have to suffer through that none of us asked for.

And for now, I'm going to leave it there.

Anthony Fantano, Kehlani, Wale, forever.