According to his Spotify profile, Solomon Ray is a “Mississippi-made soul singer carrying a Southern soul revival into the present.” His most recent release, a Christmas EP called A Soulful Christmas, features tracks with titles like “Soul to the World” and “Jingle Bell Soul.”

Ray is a verified artist on the streaming platform, draws over 324,000 monthly listeners, and became the top artist on the iTunes top 100 Christian and gospel albums chart this week. But Solomon Ray (at least, this Solomon Ray) is not a real person. Artificial intelligence crafted his persona, voice, performance style, and lyrics.

  • Phegan@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Of course the people who blindly follow something with no proof are the same people who fall for AI music.

  • zqwzzle@lemmy.ca
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    4 hours ago

    Cursed moral compass, I could be scamming the religious fanatics too.

    • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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      4 hours ago

      I’m thinking I’m just going to do it. So many others are and they don’t even seem mad about it. I guess it’s better than starting a gaming site which was going to be my “fuck this I just wanna live comfortably” move

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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    5 hours ago

    The real person behind the character of Solomon Ray is Christopher “Topher” Townsend, a conservative hip-hop artist involved with Veterans for Trump, who performed at a rally that coincided with the January 6 storming of the Capitol in 2021. Following the event, Townsend’s song, “The Patriot,” was removed from Spotify, and Instagram banned him from going live on the platform.

    • TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Opening the article after reading this and being met with the AI black man waving at oak alley plantation…

      Fuck that piece of shit.

    • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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      4 hours ago

      Not sure if edgy atheism or harsh critique of the capitalist commodification of religion/faith.

      /halfjoking

      I’m sure some gospel singers were christian and had “soul” (the music/feeling).