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Imogen Heap has always been known as an innovator in the music industry. The British singer, songwriter, producer and technologist has been experimenting with cutting edge tools to push her creativity forward since she first began releasing music over 25 years ago.
Now, as AI music continues to make headlines in the music industry and infiltrates the songwriting process, Heap is working on ethical ways to incorporate it into her own work. Recently, she released the song “I AM___,” a 13-minute epic that featured a collaboration between Heap and AI.Mogen, her self-trained AI voice model, and by collaborating with her digital self, Heap forces listeners to consider big questions, like the nature of art and self-identity.
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She’s also working on a company called Auracles, which recently announced a partnership with SoundCloud designed to create a verified digital ID for musicians that, in the age of AI, helps them track their music’s uses across the internet, grant permissions for approved uses of their work and create “the missing foundational data layer for music.”
To talk through how she’s using AI in a responsible and creative way as well as the 20th anniversary of her seminal album Speak For Yourself, Heap joined Billboard‘s new music industry podcast, On the Record w/ Kristin Robinson, this week.
Below is an excerpt of that conversation.
Watch or listen to the full episode of On the Record on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts here, or watch it below.
You’ve been watching this space for a long time, but when do you feel like you noticed a shift when everyone else started paying attention?
I feel like the silver lining, really, we definitely are at that place where it’s very confusing right now, and we do need some clarity, but we are, we can do it. There are tools, and everybody wants it. So I feel like the silver lining, really, of this dark cloud that’s on my seat as AI music taking over, is that we are going to get the data layer of works, we’re going to get this complete data layer of works because people will want to prove not only that they’re human, but they want to go there. They want to actually say, “No, I’m human and these are all my works that I actually contributed to.”
Hallwood Media is the first music company to be open about signing so-called AI artists like Xania Monet and imoliver. Do you think that major labels will start signing AI talent, or talent that uses AI very heavily, in the next few years?
I think a lot of things when you say that. I feel a lot of major labels are signing music that sounds AI generated to me anyway, it’s just like, ‘oh, that just sounds like that last thing and that last thing’ — nothing’s changed. So, it wouldn’t surprise me. I thought that that would happen, and wherever there’s money, obviously they’ll go if they think they can make money out of this artist.
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You recently released a 13-minute song called “I AM__” which featured you singing alongside AI.Mogen, which is essentially your own AI voice model. Why did you decide to collaborate with yourself, and what were you trying to say artistically?
It’s kind of a very long winded, kind of silly way to do things, but I did it as a statement. I did it to rile people up, I suppose, and just be able to have this conversation. Because the song, in the beginning, it takes you through this journey of what I’ve experienced over the last four years where I started to think about, ‘Who am I? What am I? And this ego, what is it?
And then I started to think about AI. Because what is AI? What can I feel that AI can’t feel? The noise section in that song is like the annihilation of my ego —I’m not saying I have no ego now — But then, after I needed a section for after care. I wanted to explore this idea that AI is our child. AI is something that we are raising together, as the as the mother and father. Right at the end, there’s the voice of AI.mogen. I wanted it to be an AI voice, even though I had to sing everything. The way I made this is I sang all the parts, and then I put it through my AI model so that the model of my voice is then singing the words. It’s like changing the sound on a on keyboard.
Yeah, so like a voice filter over your own performance, but this filter is also you in a way?
Yeah, and I wanted to trick people. After this quite traumatic noise section, they would feel something, and that voice would not be my voice would be the AI agent’s voice. I wanted to create a discussion. I wanted to, you know, show people that we already don’t know the difference between AI and human, but does it matter? I do say in the title, it’s AI.mogen, but it was all ethically sourced. It was all done in the best way possible. And it’s my own voice, and I didn’t use any, I didn’t generate any music.
Of course, some people already canceled me for, you know, even saying that AI is in my music. So many people have said: ‘You use AI to generate the song?’ I was like, ‘No, I did not. I wish I could, because it took me four years to do it with 100s of hours,’ but the point of this is everybody is fearful of it, but we can still feel. And what is art? Art something for someone, not to somebody else, but if a sense of it, it speaks to you and it makes you feel something does it matter if it makes you recognize something in yourself? I mean, essentially, or AI is generated from human.
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I love that you’ve been able to make this model that is totally within your control. I think the thing that gets scary is when anyone can create another person’s voice model online. I think such an important part of being an artist is having the taste and the curation to know what you want to say and don’t say. In an age of AI, it feels like you’re losing a lot of control over yourself. Do you have fears around that?
I mean, we already have lost control. People basically, you know, say that we’ve written something when we haven’t, and they don’t credit us when we have been a part of it. But that’s still very much less. I do think it’s gonna, really, it’s just gonna, it’s gonna force us into creating something that will make sense of what we have already and for the future, so that we can put a flag in the sand as humans and go, okay, up to this point, it was human generated. Again, I think it just comes down to this core missing piece that we don’t have which is an ID layer, like, identifying home for each individual.
AI almost completely lowers the barrier to entry for making music. As a trained musician, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on that?
Why not? Anyone who has spent 10,000 hours perfecting your craft will always have an edge. If you generate anything off these services right now, you’re just going to sound like 99.99% of other people who did that too, but if you have an edge, if you have a real something there that connects with people, you use these models differently. But, yeah, this helps everyone move forward. I don’t have problem with that at all.
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The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the 2026 recipients of the Jazz Masters Fellowship, billed as the highest award bestowed by the United States on jazz musicians and advocates. They are pianist, composer, musical director and educator Patrice Rushen; vocalist, composer and arranger Carmen Lundy; drummer, percussionist, composer and educator Airto Moreira; and jazz broadcaster Rhonda Hamilton, who is set to receive the 2026 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy.
Rushen, Moreire and Lundy have all received Grammy nominations. Rushen also landed a top 30 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982 with “Forget Me Nots,” which has often been sampled and interpolated.
The NEA will honor the 2026 Jazz Masters at a free concert on Saturday, April 18, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and streamed online.
“As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary in 2026, the NEA is proud to also honor these individuals who have played a significant role in jazz, considered one of our country’s greatest cultural gifts to the world,” NEA senior advisor Mary Anne Carter said in a statement. “As with our nation, jazz is an art form with a rich heritage that continues to evolve, thanks to those who have dedicated their lives and creativity to this music over generations.”
The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are awarded to living individuals based on nominations from the public including members of the jazz community. NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are $25,000. Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded 181 fellowships to important figures in jazz.
Rushen’s career has bridged jazz, R&B, classical and pop. Rushen was the first woman to serve as musical director for the Grammy Awards, the Emmy Awards and the NAACP Image Awards.
“It is an absolute honor to be named an NEA Jazz Master,” Rushen said in a statement. “To even be considered among those whose love of this art form has contributed to the music at the highest level, is an indescribable feeling. I am humbled and grateful.”
Hamilton played a key role in the early days of jazz radio station WBGO-FM and has served as a trusted guide for generations of jazz listeners, including in her current role as host of a weekday radio show on KKJZ-FM in Los Angeles.
Lundy’s artistry has significantly influenced modern jazz over a career spanning more than five decades and including more than 150 published songs.
Moreira is a defining voice in jazz percussion, proficient at instruments ranging from the tambourine to the bongos.
Visit the NEA site for more information about the 2026 NEA Jazz Masters.
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Ja Rule was involved in a heated moment in New York City on Thursday (Nov. 21).
The incident was first reported by blogger Tasha K, who claimed on X that the Queens rapper was allegedly jumped outside of New York City restaurant Sei Less. Ja Rule later debunked the report on social media and posted the following on X: “Tasha why you lying to these good ppl,” he wrote. “Yes some b–ch a– n–as tried to jump me, No it wasn’t at sei less and I’m chilling smoking a joint watching SVP wit not a scratch on me.”
Upon hearing Ja’s response, Tasha corrected herself on Instagram, admitting she had incorrectly reported that it was at the restaurant. “As I said @jarule Story Developing…. Bottom line, I heard you got your a$$ beat… ain’t nobody lie on you… this is why I thought it was Sei Less.. they ran down on you tho… Glad you ok!! #Receipts,” she posted.
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A spokesperson for Sei Less tells Billboard that no incident occurred at the restaurant on Thursday.
The screenshots in question claiming an incident occurred that Tasha shared on social media were between her and an unknown source who allegedly witnessed Ja Rule’s attack at the Brandy and Monica concert. Video footage surfaced allegedly showing Ja’s attack, but without the indication on the location. Later, Ja Rule posted a clip of himself laughing off rumors and wrote, “Believe half of what you see and none of what you read…we good over here.”
Sources tell Billboard that a scuffle occurred at the side stage between Ja Rule and a group of men, but was contained shortly after by security. Billboard has reached out to Ja Rule’s reps for comment.
Before this incident, Ja Rule and his arch nemesis 50 Cent continued to be front-page material, as they’ve exchanged numerous shots this year, further elongating their longtime feud. Ja was recently on Carmelo Anthony’s 7 PM in Brooklyn Podcast, where he dissected his feud with 50.
“I felt like I made the better records,” he said at the time. “I feel like my records aged better, still. So, that’s how I feel inside. I don’t know how everybody else feels.”
He added: “You don’t gotta love both, but you gotta respect both. You gotta appreciate both, and that’s just what it is. Even in rap competitions and battles and beefs and s–t like that, I have a very different take on it than everybody does. He has a take on it that was his take.”
Theo Wargo / Megan Thee Stallion
Megan Thee Stallion got emotional while testifying in her defamation case against blogger Milagro Gramz.
*Trigger warning: This article touches on thoughts of suicide.*
TMZ Hip Hop reports Thee Stallion let the tears flow while speaking to the jury about the PSA she cut about suicide prevention, and revealing how Tory Lanez, the convicted felon who shot her, fed Milagro Gramz lies to spread on social media and her blog.
The celebrity gossip site reports the Hip-Hop superstar tearfully opened up, wanting to take her own life, and spoke on how the entire situation with Lanez and Gramz affected her.
She also touched on the rumors being floated about her, accusing her of sleeping with her manager, Travis Farris, and having to battle them.
Per TMZ Hip Hop:
Megan tearfully told jurors she knows what it feels like to “not want to live anymore” and went into detail about the toll the ordeal with Tory and Milagro has taken on her.
Megan also told jurors about battling rumors — including the one that she was sleeping with her manager, Travis Farris — and feeling tremendous anxiety as a result.
The attorney also questioned Megan about the surgery she underwent the night of the shooting, discussing the bullet fragments removed from her feet … and her feelings about the counternarrative she believes Tory and Milagro were pushing online that she wasn’t shot.
Megan Thee Stallion Talked About Entering A Medical Facility For Treatment
The “Lover Girl” crafter also touched on entering a medical facility for Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which taught her how to help her deal with and store the trauma in her brain.
As previously reported, the treatment isn’t cheap, as it costs Thee Stallion $240,000.
While on the stand, she also spoke about initially not naming Lanez as her shooter, telling the jury she now regrets that decision, explaining she only did it out of fear of the aftermath following the tracking police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.
Trial is currently ongoing with Gramz taking the stand and Cuniff sharing updates via her X account. You can see more reactions below.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing mental struggles, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
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OK, this is definitely what dreams are made of. Hilary Duff has announced that after more than a decade, she’s finally coming back with a new album titled Luck…or Something.
As revealed Friday (Nov. 21), the singer-actress’ first full-length since 2015’s Breath In. Breathe Out. is set to drop Feb. 20. “I am often asked how I still have my head on straight after growing up in this industry,” she said in a statement about the project. “The album title is my way of answering that question.”
“It’s luck, but there’s also a lot of weight in the ‘… or something,’” she continued. “Many of the things I’ve been through along the way are held there, and I feel like ultimately that’s what’s shaped me.”
Luck…or Something will be Duff’s sixth studio album. She dropped her first LP in 2002, starting off with holiday album Santa Claus Lane. The next year, she followed it up with Metamorphosis, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — a feat she outdid in 2005 with her two-week chart-topping compilation Most Wanted.
On the cover of her new album, the Lizzie McGuire alum lies on a carpeted floor in a simple magenta sweater and sheer stockings, gazing up at the ceiling. The Luck…or Something tracklist will feature comeback single “Mature,” which Duff cowrote with her husband, producer Matthew Koma, and released on Nov. 6.
“‘Mature’ is a little conversation that my present self is having with my younger self,” the performer said of her song at the time it dropped. “The two of us are reflecting on a past experience and sending love to each other. It’s a chuckle, a wink and a sense of being grateful that we are sure footed in where we landed.”
Duff has been gearing up for a full-fledged musical comeback since September, when she signed a new label deal with Atlantic Records. She also has a docuseries tracking her return to music in the works.
Just ahead of Luck…or Something‘s release, Duff will embark on an intimate run of performances kicking off Jan. 19, featuring stops at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, HISTORY in Toronto, the new Brooklyn Paramount theater and the Wiltern in Los Angeles.
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Solomon Ray, a handsome young singer with a flawlessly trimmed beard, a friendly smile and a fedora tilted at just the right angle, is one of the world’s biggest gospel music stars this week. Four of his songs are on the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart, including No. 1 “Find Your Rest,” a soothing anthem with lyrics derived from Bible verses. He is also not human — not fully human, anyway.
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The man behind Solomon’s curtain is Christopher Jermaine Townsend, a 34-year-old rapper otherwise known as Topher, whose fire-breathing MAGA videos like “Let’s Go Brandon” and “The Patriot” have given him enormous followings on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and other social media. After reading recently about Xania Monet, the AI music star created by fellow Mississippi songwriter Telisha “Nikki” Jones, Townsend fired up the $3,500 computer system in his Philadelphia, Miss., basement and downloaded Suno, the AI music platform used by Jones. Within a few days, he and ChatGPT “co-wrote” the lyrics to “Find Your Rest,” Townsend used Suno to create the music and employed online tools to select the voice and master the song, then posted briefly about it as Topher.
Unlike most of the non-human, or partially human, artists who’ve recently hit the charts, Townsend proudly identifies as an AI collaborator. He also doesn’t care about anti-AI backlash — this is a rapper who, in March 2021, released “The Patriot,” with lyrics that included, “March around the Capitol, storm the city gates / putting pressure on their necks until the truth breaks.” He has a record of viewing haters and enemies as good publicity — and his strategy is working, as Ray’s songs have generated 738,000 on-demand audio streams in the U.S. in the past week, according to Luminate.
“[AI] reminds me of the resistance we saw with CGI,” Townsend tells Billboard. “This is CGV for me — computer-generated vocals. When CGI came out, [film director Steven] Spielberg and the industry were mad about ‘people [who] were going to lose their jobs.’ Now, no one cares about movie CGI; as a matter of fact, if you don’t have CGI, it probably won’t sell tickets.” Unlike just about every other AI-assisted artist on the charts, including Monet, Enlly Blue (rock), Breaking Rust (country) and Unbound Music (rock), none of whom have responded to multiple requests for comment, Townsend, reached on Instagram, agreed to two lengthy phone interviews.
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How did you come up with the idea of creating an AI artist?
I’m from Mississippi and I’ve been doing music since I was 10 years old, writing, performing. I’ve had Billboard No. 1 chart success as Topher [on Rap Digital Song Sales] — as a real rapper, my vocals, everything. So I’m not coming in as an outsider, or a person without any talent. The only skill I would say I lacked was singing. I caught drift of AI songs with Telisha Jones. When I heard about her success, and her being from Mississippi, I’m super-proud.
Next thing I saw, Timbaland released his AI artist, and I was like, “Okay, this is not just a niche thing, this is a real thing, when you have labels paying multimillion dollars for AI artists and you have the household names adopting the technology.”
What was the process of writing and recording “Find Your Rest”?
About two days after I downloaded the app, my sister and I had a conversation. I could feel her heart was heavy over the phone and she teared up. I let her hear a snippet of what I was working on and she said she loved it. I told her it was AI, but it didn’t bother her. When I got off the phone, I said, “Maybe I can make a song that can uplift her spirit.” I started with Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” I wrote the hook, which is, “Don’t grow weary in well-doing / get those problems off your chest.” It developed into a full-blown song.
What did you do next?
I co-write with ChatGPT. I put in, “I want a gospel song, with a choir, here are the lyrics, here’s what I want the hook to be.” I changed this, changed that, and eventually, once I got the song how I wanted to flow the words, lyrically, I copied and pasted that into Suno.
Suno will auto-generate lyrics if you just give it a prompt, but I’ve never done that. Copyright reasons. If you want AI to generate [all the music], you can’t get any publishing. You can’t claim anything. And it can’t write like me. You’re not going to get “Find Your Rest” with a prompt. So I placed lyrics in there. It gives you two samples, and either you like it or you don’t. It took me a while.
Every time you create [on Suno Studio], it costs credits. It gets pretty expensive. I just regenerated every section until I got what I wanted. Then I used landr.com, a mixing and mastering program online. Once the song’s done, I go to Artlist.io to generate Solomon Ray’s look. From there I can generate images, sitting on a truck or walking or whatever.
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Why is this a more fruitful songwriting process than just writing your own song?
It helps me eliminate the ideas that I think won’t work. It’s a tool that speeds up the process. If I was to reach out to somebody, and they had to sing this or produce that, it would take forever to get to where I’m trying to get to.
How long did it take you to get from idea to actual song that you posted online?
To give a recent example, my Christmas EP [Solomon Ray’s A Soulful Christmas], those four songs, I started working on it in an evening, and by the next night, I had completed everything — mastered all the songs, created the graphics for the album and uploaded it to Distrokid.
How did you come up with Solomon Ray?
I’m a Christian, so I’ve got a gospel background. My dad’s a blues guitarist and singer. I never dove into it because my capacity to sing wasn’t competitive enough to make a difference, so I chose the rapping route. Solomon Ray allows me to draw out my passions and my stories. I asked ChatGPT, “I need to come up with a good Southern name that’s biblically sound, that when you hear it, it’s unmistakably a Southern gentleman.” It spit out a list of 20-30 names and Solomon Ray was the one I landed on. It’s King Solomon, so it’s like wisdom, wealth. Ray was the sunshine element. I miss the days when men got a chance to dress fashionably, with the peacoats, the hats, the fedoras — that went into building his look. I didn’t want him to sound like somebody that’s been chain-smoking. When I landed on that vocal texture, I decided to keep it.
How much marketing did you do to draw attention to the song?
Although I have millions of followers, I didn’t want to leverage that. People might not like Solomon Ray simply because he’s associated with me. I wanted Solomon Ray to be able to stand on his own. I only posted one video to my TikTok and one video to my Instagram.
As Topher, you’re purely independent, right?
Right. When I was younger, I tried to go through the traditional route, the open mics, the talent shows, trying to pitch it that way. Had no success. I stuck to just being organic. It worked. My songs took off from there. Even though I was doing really well, No. 1 at Billboard, I never got a call from anyone.
It sounds like what you’re saying is the music business is closed to you as an openly conservative rapper and musician.
That’s exactly what I’m saying. But that’s fine. That’s the industry.
But if you identify as conservative, that gives you access to a whole other promotional network, of conservative radio stations, cable channels and podcasts, right?
It’s just that they’re still willing to bring me on and play me. The conservative stations and outlets still play liberal artists. But what you see is the liberal outlets are not going to play many conservative artists.
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Solomon Ray’s music is apolitical, but how much does it concern you that potential listeners might say, “This is the MAGA guy, I don’t want to support him”?
To a certain extent. Somebody might have a preconceived bias towards the music simply because [of] what they think about me. That can be [true] for any artist out there. But I believe the art is going to supersede a lot of that noise.
If a label approached you and said, “We like this activity around Solomon Ray,” would you consider signing, or do you want to remain indie?
I’m open to signing. Since I’ve already had my success as Topher, I don’t have this pride in saying, “I did it myself,” because I’ve already done it. If labels come now, it’s like, “Okay, how can we grow this, how can we expand this?” There’s a reason why you have publishing, and I’ve really never been in movies with my music, because there are certain things you don’t have access to as an independent. I’m interested in seeing how far to take him.
You refer to Solomon in the third person. It’s like you have a secret identity.
[Laughs] My wife is sometimes like, “I want you to know that Solomon’s not real.” I’m like, “I know that!” It’s like any other character in a movie.
Trending on Billboard Max B touched down at Barclays Center for the first time when he appeared as a special guest on Brandy and Monica’s joint tour stop in Brooklyn on Thursday night (Nov. 20). The Wave God hasn’t wasted any time since being released from prison earlier this month. Monica welcomed Max to the […]
Trending on Billboard So far, we’ve gotten dribs and drabs of casting news about director Sam Mendes’ ambitious four-part Beatles biopic series, The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event. We know that the band will be played by Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison). Explore […]
Trending on Billboard John Summit announced Friday (Nov. 21) that his Experts Only festival will return for year two in 2026. The news comes after a successful 2025 debut this past September, when the fest happened on Randall’s Island in New York City with a lineup including Summit collaborators and compatriots including Kaskade, Cassian, Green […]
Dave East and DreamDoll have plenty of experience in the strip club. The Harlem rapper has been making it rain for over a decade and Dream was a bartender — Startender — at famed NYC strippy Starlets.
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The pair of New York natives joined Billboard‘s Delisa Shannon and Michael Saponara for an episode of Billboard Unfiltered Live on Wednesday (Nov. 19) to debate the top five strip club anthems of all time.
DreamDoll went with Future’s “Commas,” Juicy J’s “Bandz a Make Her Dance,” Travis Porter’s “Make It Rain,” Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” and Waka Flocka Flame’s “No Hands” featuring Wale and Roscoe Dash.
She also touched on her strip-club lore, which finds her name engraved on the Booby Trap on the River club in Miami. “Y’all look up at the top — it says my name is up there because Booby Trap on the River $100,000 racks thrown — me and Rick Ross,” she said.
As for Dave East, he picked Akinyele’s “Put It in Your Mouth,” Juicy J’s “Bandz a Make Her Dance,” Future’s “March Madness,” Gucci Mane’s “Freaky Gurl” and Pop Smoke’s “Welcome to the Party.”
“I be in the strip club — I’m guilty,” East joked. “I been in there a long time. I feel like this right here, Akinyele, that’s before I was in the club, but the rest of them, I been in the spot to see what they do.”
Saponara showed love to Tyga’s “Make It Nasty,” Lil Wayne and Young Money’s “Every Girl,” Future’s “March Madness,” T-Pain’s “Im N Luv (Wit a Stripper)” and Waka Flocka Flame’s “No Hands.”
After surveying the crowd’s reaction, DreamDoll ended up being crowned the champion for her list of top five strip club anthems.
Billboard launched its first Atlanta strip club chart over the summer and will continue to update it monthly. Watch the full episode above.
