France - DataDada

The first thing that stands out about this song is that it’s performed not by a human being, but by a robot with the stylish French name of Robert de Barretin. Robert is very contemporary and gender neutral, because while he is male, his voice is feminine. Another very 21st-century feature is that Robert is freely accessible: you can dabble with him yourself here.

This creative team aspires to be more than just a gang of people making AI songs. DataDada sees itself as a 21st century artistic movement in which data is no longer simply a digital fact, but something tangible with a touch of Dadaism, which was characterized by alienation, irrationality, and an interdisciplinary approach.

This French group is as interdisciplinary as they come. Albertine Meunier and Julien Levesque are artists using data as raw material. Bastien Didier works on brain-computer interfaces; Sylvie Tissot gained her experience at a company that makes special effects and androids; and Thu Trinh-Bouvier created a new language based on still images, video, and emojis.

For the AI Song Contest, this team fed their AI with data not from all the entries, but only from the three best-scoring songs each year; in their words, 'Dada loves winners'. The lyrics were translated into English, and several open-source AI tools were used to generate music and text from the data. The music production software Ableton was employed to create a coherent composition that people would want to listen to. The team wanted the song to be ‘goofy, witty, and surprising'.  In keeping with Dada's philosophy, the lyrics had to be original and unusual. As a special guest the team invited Singer Lily Gray to help with the musical arrangements.

The DataDada team, which was formed in 2014, has produced a significant body of musical work at the cutting edge of technology and creativity. Albertine Meunier’s work, including the album French Data Touch, attempts to reveal the invisible poetry of all things digital. Julien Levesque used algorithms to convert Google location data into Data Sonata, a musical composition available as sheet music and an LP.

Some team members also work together on the company Mentalista, which creates playful art projects starring brainwaves: using thought to control a robotized ball, or one person’s brain to guide another’s hand and put a drawing on paper. Play is in the blood of the DataDada team.