Ghostwriter’s vision of music is all machine, no heart
thefader.comIn April, an anonymous music producer known only as Ghostwriter made headlines with a song called “Heart on my Sleeve.” Using AI-assisted tools, Ghostwriter was able to create glitchy facsimiles of Drake and the Weeknd’s vocals known as “deep fakes,” bringing the two artists together for a collaboration the pair had nothing to do with.
Tens of millions of TikTok plays and a Universal Music Group takedown later, he’s ready for his close-up. In a recent Billboard cover story, Ghostwriter insisted that he’s simply using new technology to channel existing creative impulses. “There are so many talented songwriters that are able to chameleon themselves in the studio to fit the artist they are writing for.
Even their vocal delivery, their timbre, where the artist is in their life story. That skill is what I get to showcase with Ghostwriter.” These skills — and the tech he uses — have a long way to go to meet this lofty goal.
As weak as Drake’s recent output has been (What’s the worst line on For All The Dogs? I still can’t get over “sliming you out for all the kid choices you made”), his recent lows are leagues ahead of “Heart on my Sleeve.” The song opens with a thin piano loop, a pirated Metro Boomin tag, and a pretty rudimentary 808 pattern. “I came in with my ex like Selena to flex,” crows not-Drake; later, not-the Weeknd will sing “I got my heart on my sleeve with the city on my back.” It feels more like a reference track than a finished product, like the artist and producer are only beginning to shape the ideas of what the final song might become.
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