VAVA, Thai pop’s first AI artist, has dropped her first single

As we wait for the eventual takeover of our AI overlords, they’re warming up by releasing singles first. The completely AI pop artist, VAVA, has released her first song after making her debut last year.

Artificial intelligence is doing wonders—really awesome, really creepy wonders. I would ask why it seems we haven’t learned from films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, I Robot, or even freaking Wall-E. But then I remember that we’re the human race. Ignoring red flags is what we do best (yes, I’m talking to you, you who called your ex up last night).

Nowadays, people are making use of AI to make profile pictures or write their papers for them. Meanwhile, here in Thailand, a completely AI pop artist has just released her first song, complete with a music video and even a reaction video to her own music video (very Inception).

[Hero image: Instagram @vavaartist]

Meet VAVA, T-pop’s AI artist

A play on the words “virtual artists”, VAVA is the result of a collaboration between T-Town Digital Studio, PRO-toys, and Drive iGency. The AI artist first started out by doing covers of songs, which can all be seen T-Town Digital Studio’s official YouTube channel. However, “Drop It (Like a Bomb)” is her first official song.

Like a true pop star, VAVA has her own social media accounts. Her Instagram has posts that show her “real life” and a glimpse behind-the-scenes of her recordings. Meanwhile, her TikTok has her dancing and sending messages to her fans.

A mix of motion capture and AI is what seems to bring VAVA to life. Her face obviously uses deepfake technology, and while it’s still quite obvious that she isn’t real, it’s an accomplishment that she’s Thailand’s first virtual artist. The ramifications of this technology are a whole other discussion, but I won’t be surprised if a company called Skynet starts popping up everywhere.

Watch VAVA’s music video below.