Liza Minnelli is setting the record straight about using AI on her new song, her first in 13 years.
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 18: Actress-singer Liza Minnelli attends the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 18, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The 79-year-old is releasing a new track titled “Kids Wait Till You Hear This,” tied to the release of her memoir of the same name.
But she made it clear that while she worked with AI voice platform ElevenLabs to create parts of the song, her voice is 100% hers.
“Hi Kids, I’m happy as a clam, laughing like hell and losing my mind! It’s all goin’ on at the time,” she wrote on January 21. “Today, my first EDM single since The Pet Shop Boys era, released on @elevenlabsio , a Six Billion Dollar techno behemoth does amazing things. Matthew McConaughey was an early investor. Smart.”
She continued, clarifying, “What I will not allow this great company to do? Create, clone or copy my voice! On this dance track, ‘Kids Wait Till You Hear This’ which is a tease for my book, we used AI arrangements. Not AI vocals. A few trolls didn’t bother to read the truth, check with me or my partners. The shout outs are all mine!”
The icon concluded, “Go listen, enjoy, and shake your pretty buns to the music, as we glide down the runway to send my book into the world and your very own hot hands. And the photograph? Not retro. Au Courant.”
Minnelli previously spoke about her decision to work with ElevenLabs in a statement, saying, “I’ve always believed that music is about connection and emotional truth. What interested me here was the idea of using my voice and new tools in service of expression, not instead of it. I grew up watching my parents [Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli] create wonderful dreams that were owned by other people. ElevenLabs makes it possible for anyone to be a creator and owner. That matters.”
HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 02: Actress Liza Minnelli attends the Oscars at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 2, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
“Kids Wait Till You Hear This” is Minnelli’s first new song since 2013, when she recorded a song called “A Love Letter from the Times” for the musical TV series “Smash.”
The song shares a title with her new memoir, set to be released in March.
Minnelli said she wanted to publish the book because she’s “mad as hell” that previous documentaries about her “didn’t get it right”.
In a statement given to People, Minnelli said, “Since I was old enough to put pencil to paper, people asked me to write books about my career. ‘Absolutely not! Tell it when I’m gone!’ Was my philosophy.”
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 03: Liza Minnelli performs at the Dramatists Guild Fund’s 50th Anniversary Gala Honoring John Kander at Mandarin Oriental Hotel on June 3, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Fernando Leon/Getty Images for Dramatists Guild)
After several years and multiple incidents, inlcuing a “recent miniseries that just didn’t get it right,” she decided it was time to take matters into her own hands.
“Finally, I was mad as hell! Over dinner one night, I decided, it’s my own … story I’m gonna share it with you because of all the love you’ve given me.”
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