“You can kick rocks if you don’t like how I talk/ I’m gonna keep on talking and walk my walk/ Ain’t changing my tone ain’t changing my song/ I was born this way been loud too long.” So goes the chorus of breakout country music star Breaking Rust’s new hit “Walk My Walk.” There are more lyrical references to being “born” to something, which had my wires snapping given how Breaking Rust is neither a sentient human being nor a corrosive chemical reaction, but rather another AI “artist.” Worse yet, Breaking Rust (I’m assuming we can likewise blame ChatGPT for the dumb name) is the latest AI “artist” to climb a Billboard chart. We saw this with contemporary R&B/Gospel “singer” Xania Monet when “she” became the first AI to debut on a Billboard radio chart. Now the platitude-heavy “Walk My Walk” has landed Breaking Rust at the top of Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart. You guys, I just can’t anymore.
The song, “Walk My Walk,” by an artist known as Breaking Rust, is now No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart. But the brooking, gravel-voiced cowboy behind the hit doesn’t exist. At least, not in the traditional sense.
He’s an AI creation with millions of streams, tens of thousands of followers and no verifiable human footprint.
Breaking Rust surfaced in mid-October, sharing dusky, cinematic clips of a lone cowboy on Instagram, where more than 35,000 fans now follow his journey.
On Spotify, the artist has more than 2 million monthly listeners, with multiple songs surpassing 1 million streams. “Living’ on Borrowed Time” alone has been played more than 4 million times.
While Breaking Rust’s music sounds indistinguishable from mainstream country, its creation process is entirely synthetic.
The songs are credited to Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, an obscure figure who appears connected only to Breaking Rust and a separate AI music project called Defbeatsai. Some observers even question whether Taylor himself is real.
As AI-generated songs flood streaming services, lawmakers and musicians alike — from Sir Elton John to Dua Lipa — are calling for guardrails.
Spotify, for its part, recently announced new safeguards to protect artists and songwriters from AI-generated spam, impersonation, and deception.
The company said it will soon begin displaying credits that identify when AI tools are used in vocals, instrumentation or production. It’s also partnering with major labels, including Sony Music Group, Universal and Warner, to develop “responsible AI” products and has launched a generative AI research lab.
Despite the milestone, Breaking Rust doesn’t have the most popular country song in America. Morgan Wallen’s “I Got Better” currently tops Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, and Cody Johnson’s “Travelin’ Soldier” leads among U.S. country tracks on streaming platforms.
But the rise of AI musicians is no longer an anomaly. Earlier this year, the mysterious rock band Velvet Sundown drew attention for reaching 550,000 Spotify listeners in a month, despite evidence that its members were AI-generated.
Is “responsible AI” an oxymoron like “jumbo shrimp”? Feels like an empty PR move from the giants of music — Sony, Universal, Warner — to placate any naysayers. “We’re not the bad guys! See, we’re launching a research lab!!” Record labels don’t mind AI; they just want to make sure it’s making them money off of their artists properties. Still, I’ll give Spotify some credit for taking the steps to highlight AI usage. Though I maintain that it’s really Billboard who should be disqualifying AI from their charts. Or at the very, very least, having separate AI-only charts.
But there’s still hope for humanity — ha! — because technically-human country stars Morgan Wallen and Cody Johnson are more popular than Breaking Rust! You know, Morgan Wallen, the guy who’s been arrested for drinking and disorderly conduct, has used racial slurs, once threw a chair off the roof of a building, and stormed off the SNL set before the credits started rolling. And Cody Johnson, whose producer made a racist “quip” directed at Shaboozey when Johnson was accepting Album of the Year at the CMA Awards last year. Yeah, so the bottom of the cracker barrel is still more popular than AI. Ten bucks says the white country music gatekeepers will still say Breaking Rust sounds and feels more country than Cowboy Carter.
Photo via Facebook/Breaking Rust
The move by Spotify is a good one, i wonder how they will tell if people are using AI to produce or melodically alter their music though? Everyone is also forgetting that in the case of AI artists, this won’t be some random AI generating a full song by itself, it will be helmed by a person behind the scenes who is crafting the song using AI, so really it is a tool like any other used when any song is made electronically, just with a novel vocal layer on top. So, it is primarily the vocal part that people are concerned about? While I think the move by Spotify is great so people can choose who to support, I think AI will be an exceptional tool for some, for example – people who are songwriters but cannot sing and cannot afford to hire someone to sing it but can generate the vocal with AI, or people who cannot afford high-end production software but could produce incredible music given the access to the right tools. As with many industries it will be a great democratiser in some ways but it just needs transparency and regulation so people can make their own informed choices.
All of that said, whoever created ‘Breaking Rust’ and thought that was a good name for an artist should think a bit harder, clearly AI outputs are only as good as the user.
Of course country music would elevate AI. Anything over black artists. Of course.
And all this is is a plagiarism tool. If you can’t sing without AI, you shouldn’t be a singer. This isn’t auto tune, this is ripping off actual artists and their work. People have made careers starting on YouTube; you don’t need to steal the high-end production of others, you need to be good. And lucky.
I didn’t realize that Wallen was on SNL but LOL for days that he rehearsed a walk-off. Such a loser.
@Calliope agree on everything. It’s sickening that AI is robbing other people’s work and still there someone defending it. How can you rob someone responsibly?