This one landed in my lap while I was on vacation. Somebody took the music of Sleep Token — already a genre-bending, love-’em-or-hate-’em band — and ran it through AI. The result? A track that’s equal parts beautiful, haunting, and… problematic.

Here’s the link so you can hear for yourself:

Here’s where I’m torn: there’s a big part of me that wants to hate this, simply because it was made with AI. The purist in me doesn’t like the idea of algorithms chewing on someone else’s creativity and spitting out something “new.” But then the other part of me presses play and thinks: damn, this is gorgeous.

And here’s where it gets even trickier: I use AI. I use it for writing, for brainstorming, for making things in my life easier. So maybe I shouldn’t feel bad if somebody else is doing something cool with it. But music — music is where I feel the line.

Because I also create music. For me, that process is cathartic. It’s messy. It’s emotional. It’s not just pressing buttons. Every track I’ve ever produced has come from a place of feeling — usually pain. Historically, most of my albums were born out of moments when life wasn’t going well. Emotional pain, physical pain — doesn’t matter. If I can’t jackhammer the smile off my face, I can’t write a song. That’s just how it works for me.

So when I hear an AI-generated track, no matter how well it’s stitched together, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s missing that piece. You can tell a computer, “Take this song and turn it country,” and it’ll do it. It might even sound convincing. But will it carry the weight of what it means to sit in a dark room with your head spinning, your chest tight, and your hands on the keys, trying to turn your own chaos into sound? I don’t think so.

And yet — this Sleep Token experiment works. It smooths out some of their jagged edges, makes the music more palatable to a broader audience, and still feels hauntingly beautiful. It’s not a replacement, but it is compelling. Which leaves me asking the same question over and over again:

Is it OK to love something like this?

I don’t have the answer. I just know I’ve hit replay more than once.

Disclaimer: I did not create this track, and I do not claim ownership of it. All credit goes to Sleep Token and to the creator who experimented with AI to produce this version. I’m sharing it here purely for discussion and reflection. If you want to hear it for yourself.

What do you think?

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