Ghostwriter. Thumbnail from “ghostwriter - heart on my sleeve (Drake x The Weeknd AI) Official Audio” via YouTube
Ghostwriter has created a new, AI-less version of “heart on my sleeve” — an ultra-viral track that used generative AI to deepfake the voices of Drake and the Weeknd — in order for the song to meet the requirements for Grammy nomination, the anonymous producer and his manager revealed to Billboard in a new exclusive interview. Indeed, the track appears to have been re-uploaded to Spotify on September 8 with the AI vocals replaced by what is allegedly Ghostwriter’s own voice.
Back in April, all major digital streaming platforms — including TikTok — deleted “heart on my sleeve” from their libraries at Universal Music Group’s request. (The track remains on YouTube, where Ghostwriter uploaded a remastered version in May.)
The track’s virality and the backlash from UMG became a flashpoint in the discourse on AI in music that’s only escalated since. The conversation made it all the way to Congress in July, where UMG called for more regulations on generative AI, even as the label reportedly made plans with Google to license their artist’s voices for deepfakes.
Earlier that month, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason had clarified that “a work that contains no human authorship is not eligible [for the Grammys] in any category.” In September, however, he said “heart on my sleeve” was “absolutely eligible because it was written by a human” after the track was submitted for nomination. He went back on that statement just two days later, claiming he’d been given “bad and really inaccurate information” on the circumstances of the song’s creation.
“Let me be extra, extra clear: Even though it was written by a human creator, the vocals were not legally obtained, the vocals were not cleared by the label or the artists, and the song is not commercially available,” he said. “And because of that, it’s not eligible.”
The FADER has reached out to the Recording Academy for clarification on whether the new version of “heart on my sleeve” is on the nomination ballot for the 2024 Grammys.
