Breland Speaks Up on AI-Generated Song Topping the Country Chart

Breland, a country music singer who pushed boundaries, blended genres, and paid his dues to be one of Nashville’s recognized artists, is speaking up about the unfairness of Breaking Rust, an AI-generated country music “artist” hitting the top of the Country Digital Song Sales with the track “Walk My Walk.”  

Aside from being a singer and songwriter, Breland is also a record producer, which made this news less thrilling for him.   

In an interview with Daily Mail, he said, “It feels like a slap in the face as an actual creative who has sacrificed a lot to do this.” He added that it’s insulting for “artists” who aren’t even real people to receive recognition that some human artists never get.   

The “My Truck” singer also said he’s suspicious of the song suddenly rising to the top of the charts because it was generally unheard of at the time: “I have not really seen or heard anyone talking about this artist, talking about this song and usually, in my experience, I'm familiar with the records that end up at the top of the charts in my own genre because I pay attention. I also know all of these artists personally, so I found this to be interesting.”  

The New Jersey-born rapper clarified that he wasn’t accusing anyone of any dirty tricks for the AI-generated song to top the chart. However, the “business structure” and the “cutthroat aspect of the music industry” were not prioritizing the “well-being of any of their individual human artists.” He added, “I'm not going to expect a record label that is essentially a creative bank to not do what they can to protect their bottom dollar.”  

Breland reflected on what he needed to do and the sacrifices he needed to make to break through in the industry, something the “artist” behind the AI song didn’t have to experience. “When I started, I wasn't making any money and, for a period of time, I was having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. I was giving voice lessons to aspiring singers and songwriters, I was writing songs for independent artists for a couple hundred dollars a piece, and that was all building blocks for me to be able to get to where I am now.”  

He also expressed his gratitude that he already had an established career before AI: “I've been blessed to tour around the world and have had records that have done well, but if I was in the beginning of my career and had to go against these unhuman algorithms that are putting out these songs, it would definitely be daunting.”