10 times I listened to that song.
10 times getting pulled into the hypnotic rhythm and surreal visuals.
10 times before I realized what I was actually hearing…
AI generated music!
It was Kelly Boesch's "Quiet Rebellion." It snuck its way into my feed and instantly hooked me.
And here's the weird part. The more I listened to it, even after I knew what it was, the more fascinated I became.
Now, in my humble opinion, Ms. Boesch is a legit artist. She has a vision. A vibe. She has something to say, and like a true artist, she's exploring (exploiting?) unknown territory.
But in her own words — and it feels weird to say this — she's not a musician. Not by any stretch of the current definitions of the word. She. Can't. Play. Music.
Musicians are outraged with good reason. AI scraped the internet with no care or compensation, repackaged it, sold it as "art," and seeks to displace and disenfranchise human artists because it thinks it can. The delusional maniacs at the heads of these companies genuinely feel that "this is the way things are going, so we should all just get on board."
Hans Zimmer put it beautifully: "AI is a snapshot of the past being sold as the future."
You won't hear me swear often, but fuck that. And fuck them.
Because there is something deeper going on here. And no one seems to be acknowledging it.
The creative spirit is very much alive.
Otherwise no one would be using platforms like Suno. People want to make music. They want to write. They want to make stunning visual art.
And this technology empowers them. Suddenly, people can bypass decades of dedicated passion and practice to just write the song they've always had on their heart and have it produced in a few hours.
It makes you wonder though…if it meant that much to them, why haven't they done it before?
Maybe they were too busy.
Maybe they tried and never got past the "absolutely sucking" phase.
Maybe the ego whispered a little too loudly that they just weren't any good to begin with.
Maybe.
Whatever the excuse, I think the truth of it is much more simple.
They were scared. And AI became the permission slip.
It takes real courage to step on stage. Or to put your work out there for everyone to see. To be judged. Criticized. Especially if you have something unique to say.
If it sucks, or people have a bad reaction? They can write it off as a hallucination instead of taking ownership.
They insulate themselves from the thing that makes an artist an artist — the raw vulnerability that sits at the core of real creative expression.
When you stack that kind of cowardice on top of the brazen theft of the totality of humanity's creative output, the debate becomes a lot less defensible.
But the truth remains…
People want to create.
It's hard-wired into us.
Propaganda and programming will never destroy that. It's like a fist trying to hold water.
Full Transparency
I use AI. There are things about it that I genuinely love. And there are things that deeply disturb me.
I'm not throwing stones from the outside. I'm in it, wrestling with it, same as anyone.
But maybe I'm one of the weird ones.
I'd rather record something imperfect than have AI generate a flawless and lifeless facsimile.
I'd rather shoot a terrible photo with my fancy-ish camera than have AI generate a fantasy.
I'd rather write something clumsily from the heart than have AI write a "perfectly" worded and keyword optimized post.
So instead of farming out my creative spirit and divorcing myself from the responsibility of my own ideas and opinions, I do the next best thing. I have AI teach me the fundamentals. Because if you understand the fundamentals of anything, it will carry you much further than a few fancy tricks.
One final observation and a call to action.
After a short while, the fascination wore off. Kelly's music, while interesting in its own ways, just sort of faded. That's something that has never happened to me with Miles Davis, or Radiohead, or Van Gogh or Stanley Kubrick or the thousands of other artists I've been blessed to experience. Make of that what you will.
Lastly, and most importantly — do the thing.
Write a terrible poem.
Tell a story that falls apart in the middle.
Get on stage and sing a song that makes people head for the doors.
If it's in your heart, do it. As best as you can.
If it brings you joy — even if that joy comes with some embarrassment or pain — keep doing it. Learn the fundamentals of your chosen craft. Keep hammering them until they become second nature.
No one can do that for you. And AI isn't you. It's just an echo of a shadow.
So do it.
Because inside you is something perfect and unique. Something worthy of being brought into the world and shared.
Something so innately human that you can never outrun it.
Bring it to life.
You never know who you'll light up when you share it.
I believe in you.
Nick
Your Full Moon Practice This Month
Your task for this month's full moon is simple.
As you lie down and absorb the energy and healing, let the thing that's been sitting in your heart emerge.
Acknowledge the hidden fear.
Speak the unspoken desire.
Claim the abandoned idea.
Put it into action.
Whatever's been sitting in your heart — the song, the story, the thing you've been too scared to make — let this cycle be where you stop waiting. Use the ritual to clear the fear and find out what's actually yours to create.
Grab your Full Moon Ritual Guide here:
👉 https://www.mysticsoundhealing.net/fullmoonritual
And when you're ready to drop in, the Full Moon Ritual Sound Healing is waiting for you on YouTube:
👉 https://youtu.be/Cijlrmt5rEU
Now go do the thing.
Comments