“AI art” has begun to corrupt our creative spheres.
In a digital age, music is being made, shared and consumed faster than ever before. Decisions made in an artist’s creative process are increasingly optimised to cater to algorithms, and chase trends with the lifespan of a fly.
The limbo of monetising art rapidly continues to cultivate pernicious effects on the creative process. As this priority proliferates, it is gradually overshadowing the artistic precision and the emotional intricacy of creative work. Consumerism has banished brainstorming to the bleachers and convenience is crescively saught after – enter artificial intelligence.
The debate of whether AI can truly claim to create art has flooded artistic communities. Spoiler alert: it can’t.
Oxford defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”, a practice too intrinsically human for even the longest string of code. “AI art” undermines creativity as principle, and obscures the life’s work of creatives around the globe. By advertising convenience, AI is antithetical to imagination, critical thinking and growth- the beginning, contents and conclusion of the creative process.
In this era, creative control is an artist’s greatest weapon, and the UK’s Erin LeCount wields hers with equal parts grace and fury.
Who is Erin LeCount?
Erin LeCount is an alternative pop musician hailing from Essex. Her latest EP I Am Digital, I Am Divine is equally draped in white lace and cold metal. LeCount’s sonnets are angelic with a quiet anger brewing restlessly beneath. At 22, she is emerging as a force of nature against the growing culture of creative convenience.
Rather than externally sourcing to actualise her vision, LeCount is the ultimate autonomist. Willingness to develop new skills and a fervent dedication to her craft are the tangy ingredients of creative control. Across her entire discography, LeCount’s songwriting, production, mastering, mixing and live show performances are of her own handiwork. Such a feat was no thanks to fancy recording studios and expensive equipment, but rather her Dad’s garden shed, a plastic MIDI keyboard and a dream. Where so-called “proper” methods of creation have been inaccesible, LeCount has carved out her own key.
LeCount’s rise has been undoubtedly meteoric. A production breakdown for her hit Marble Arch took TikTok by storm and garnered the requiem 6 million streams on Spotify. Marble Arch is a glimmering orison for heatless hearts, cautioning deification as a somatic parasite that brews detachment. New fans were markedly enchanted by LeCount’s heavenly harp and sharp storytelling.
Whilst undoubtedly flaunting her skills as sonic draughtsman, the video more predominantly inducts viewers into LeCount’s benevolent fresco of angel wings and swinging swords. Her ceaseless creative control was the paintbrush responsible for accurate translation from heart to headphones.
What difference does this make?
Creating with this ethos of self-sufficiency allows LeCount to wholly actualise her inner visions. Every aperture of LeCount’s marble kingdom is carefully sculpted, as alternative to half-heartedly sending her blueprints off to an external producer or audio engineer who lacks full understanding of her world, let alone an AI program.
Regardless of language used or inspiration sourced to communicate an artist’s ideal end outcome, only the conceiver’s eyes can truly envisage the world they intend to create. External contributors aren’t mind readers, especially artificial intelligence that lack cognitive minds of their own. Emotion is arguably a prerequisite for art. Of these proposed routes, it’s conspicuous which one is more likely to produce an immersive product.
Insidiously, the gendered connotations encircling music production have too long deterred women from taking the reins of their own artistry. LeCount herself has been outspoken about how her work ethic combats this disparity, assuring aspiring creatives that their desired skills are, in fact, attainable.
““There are women doing it, but they’re either not calling themselves producers or are not being put in the right rooms. I know so many people who make beats and make tracks and then go ‘but I’m not a producer’, even though that’s exactly what it is. You can feel a sort of condescension sometimes, or the idea that you can do maybe 60 per cent of it, and then they’re surprised when you want to do the last 40 per cent as well”. -Erin LeCount for MusicTech
By harnessing the power of creative control, artists like Lecount elevate themselves from vessels disseminating media to Gods crafting realms.
What’s next for LeCount?
Currently, the seraphic songstress is preparing to embark on the American leg of her La Lune tour. Fresh off frenzied ticket sales and interviews with Teen Vogue and the knighthood of Far Out Magazine’s Producer of the year, Lecount’s presence in pop culture is ever-proliferating. Furthermore, fans have been itching for the release of behemoth singles I Believe and Alice, teased across her social media to wit’s end. LeCount ceased the suspense and took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce I Believe‘s release on January 9th.
“this song felt like a reflection on my year at the time. a very long and ongoing search for something or someone to believe in, to tell me what to do, what to say, how to be, how to exist when feeling apathetic and disillusioned about the world around you. looking for answers in religion, in astrology, in pop culture magazine quizzes, in miracle prescription drugs, in every awful modern self help book. trying to optimise yourself. trying to be better. trying to be good. trying to practice restraint. abstaining. cleansing. until you realise you are not much of a person – more of a consumer of all the right things. a consumer that still feels empty and figures that there must be inherently wrong with them.”
LeCount’s lessons for creatives
LeCount has forged a formidable presence in the music industry by refusing to dilute her vision or outsource creative efforts. Under the looming gaze of convenience culture and art clouded by emotionless AI, her steadfast ethos is bold resistance. When creating interpersonal art, independence triumphs intervention.
When planted upon creative tongue, personal and powerful are often synonyms. It can come as a staggering truth to some creatives that any skill can indeed be learnt. YouTube is free and determination is of your own design. Skills can be outsourced, but potent passion and drive cannot be.
Whether you indulge in visual art, writing, dance, music or other artistic apertures, LeCount’s ethics are universally inspiring. Compromised effort elicits compromised art. The driver’s seat is primordially yours unless you forfeit direction. Only you can be the architect of your own desires.
