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AI Holly+ performs Jolene

posted November 12, 2022 #

Holly+ is an AI voice model from Holly Herndon that allows anyone to upload audio to the tool and get back audio in the distinct Holly+ voice. There's a wonderfully insightful rundown on the whole project and the larger topic of voice impersonation (see Midler v Ford, Waits v Frito-Lay, The Andy Warhol Diaries, Anthony Bourdain Voice Deepfake, etc etc).

Coupler (one of my favorite ambient musicians outta Chicago) teamed up with Herndon, Mat Dryhurst and Sam Rolfes to create a cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" and set it to pretty wild mocap'ed performance featuring a semblance of the Holly+ avatar.

That's a lot to digest but the summary is: smart and talented people crafted a cover of a classic country song using some (currently) cutting edge tech and the results are worth your time. The cover itself isn't a far cry from the original but the quality of the Holly+ vocals are stunning... it's hard to believe that it's an AI generated experience rather than an actual human performance.