“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is one of the most iconic songs of the holiday season, climbing the charts every year and reaching number one in 2023, 65 years after the song debuted. But the world’s biggest record company is leveraging artificial intelligence to make the track reach an even more global audience.
Universal Music Group on Friday released a Spanish-language version of the classic Christmas song, “Noche Buena y Navidad,” featuring Brenda Lee’s voice-cloned vocals from the original recording. Sonically, it’s impressive and sounds very close to the original, even if the meaning of the lyrics had to be changed to fit the new language. For example, there are no references to mistletoe or pumpkin pie in the Spanish version, and the opening line in the Spanish version is translated as “I want to dance beside you and enjoy Christmas.”
Brenda Lee – “Noche Buena y Navidad”
The song is one of the most important pieces of AI music ever released, and one of the few times a record label has authorized the use of audio reproduction in a commercial release. “Noche Buena y Navidad” was released about four months after UMG announced a partnership with AI music startup SoundLabs over the summer, touting the new deal as a way for artists to clone their own voices. At the time, the companies cited language transcription as a promising use for the technology, allowing artists to reach fans more directly, even if the music isn’t in the same language.
“One of the things we’re very bullish about is extending the human process,” says SoundLabs founder and composer who has worked with Madonna, Death Cab for Cutie and Sting. says one Brian “BT” Transor. “That’s part of why I’m really excited about integrating machine learning into this.”
Tranceau says hearing music in the fans’ native language while also hearing the artist’s voice is a “more emotional experience” for listeners. “Music is a universal conduit for language,” he says. “And, of course, the human voice…usually guides and tells the story. I only speak English, but if I were to put myself in the shoes of someone who is constantly bombarded with songs that they love even though it’s not their native language, I’d be surprised if my It would be so nice to hear it in language.”
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Artificial intelligence remains a sensitive topic in the music industry, with labels and artists alike concerned that the technology could give way to rampant copyright infringement and unauthorized use of artists’ names, images, and likenesses. It has been stated. And of course, there are still concerns that AI will eventually replace human creativity entirely. Meanwhile, AI’s ability to mass-produce schlock also helped alleged fraudsters siphon tens of millions of dollars in royalties from real artists.
Given these issues, music companies are being cautious, recognizing the useful tools that AI can provide, but taking precautions against unauthorized uses. All three major record companies sued prominent AI music generators Suno and Udio over massive copyright infringement claims earlier this year. Both companies are fighting back, claiming that AI songs are fair use.
In SoundLabs’ case, they obtained the license from UMG to create Lee’s vocals, and Lee himself approved the final version, saying in a statement that he was “shocked” by the new recording.
“Throughout my career, I have performed and recorded many songs in different languages, but I had never recorded ‘Rockin” in Spanish, and I wanted to do that,” she said. . “It’s incredible to be able to release this now and we’re excited to introduce this song to our fans in a new way.”
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Although the song is a technological adventure made possible by AI machine learning, it is still primarily the result of the meticulous work of real human musicians. SoundLabs’ software helped clean up the stems from the master recordings and make the raw vocals sound like Brenda Lee, but much of the rest was created by humans. “You can’t just ask LLM to translate a song into Spanish and expect it to be the best artistic translation,” says BT.
Provided by Universal Music Group
Before the partnership with SoundLabs was officially announced this year, UMG enlisted multiple Latin Grammy Award-winning producer Aureo Baqueiro to help produce the song. Baqueiro also rewrote the song’s lyrics to make sense and fit in Spanish. Song pronunciation and rhythm. That alone took about two to three weeks, he told Rolling Stone. After that was completed, he brought in a studio singer named Leila Hoyle to perform the vocals, which Baqueiro sent to SoundLabs so they could be overlaid with Lee’s vocal clone.
Although Hoyle is a native Spanish speaker, some of the translated audio is returned so some of the lines sound like an English speaker trying to sing in Spanish, so they have to be modified. did. But in the end, Baqueiro says they came up with as close to a Spanish version of the song as he could.
“I was obviously shocked,” Baqueiro says of the first time he heard Hoyle’s transformed Lee vocals. “There are definitely creative possibilities, especially when it comes to songs from our old catalog that we love, and we think we can reintroduce these songs to a new audience.
“I hope this song further enhances that experience for listeners,” he continues. I love the song and I know the song, even if I don’t fully understand the lyrics in some cases. But the way we do it, I think it’s pretty perfect in terms of how it sounds in both languages. It sings, sings the same and sounds the same. That’s what I really like, it increases the possibilities and depth of communication with listeners in a new language. ”
Releases like this put the music business into uncharted territory and raise philosophical questions about how we view the musical process. Who actually performed the song and how they are credited is a complicated question. The end result is Lee’s voice, but the recording is only possible through a kind of vocal surrogate, in this case foil. Hoyle is not listed as the vocalist on this song, and it is believed to be by Lee.
Given that there are only a few such cases, it remains to be seen how labels will handle these credits overall. When Warner Music Nashville released AI Randy Travis’ song “Where That Came From” this spring, the company tapped singer James Dupre to be the song’s “vocal bed.”
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This may not be the last time UMG uses voice clones to translate songs. Although they won’t reveal who, SoundLabs says an English-speaking UMG artist with a significant following in Japan is interested in remaking one of their records for Japanese translation.
Lacy Transeau, SoundLabs Chief Operating Officer, said: “I think this Brenda Lee use case really helps people understand what’s possible in terms of getting excited about breathing new life into something that already exists.”
