'Don't want his voice to be heard in any Tom, Dick and Harry's music': SPB's son refuses composer's request to use singer's AI voice

While Rajinikanth's Vettaiyan bombed at the box office, its song Manasilaayo was widely popular, clocking over 4 crore views on YouTube. The song became popular because of late singer Malaysia Vasudevan's vocals, which the music composers recreated using artificial intelligence. 

While the audiences and Tamil film fans grooved to the song, some in the music fraternity were not happy. One such example is legendary playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam's family.

SPB's son and singer-producer SP Charan, known for his work as a composer in Dulquer Salmaan's Sita Ramam, talked about the trend of recreating vocals of old artistes using AI in a recent interview.

Charan said that many people approached him for permission to replicate his father's voice using AI. The music composer said that he and his family do not want to hear his father's voice in "any Tom, Dick and Harry's music."

SP Balasubrahmayam died at the age of 74 in September 2020 due to cardio-respiratory arrest after over a month of hospitalisation. 

"Many people have approached me asking permission to use my father's voice using AI. I vehemently say no. My family and myself do not want his voice to be heard in any Tom, Dick and Harry's music. Even if it's a responsible music director with a clarity in thoughts, I say no. He is there. Let him be," he said in an interview with Vikatan. 

He added that Manasilaayo can be a great song for many but had his father been alive, he could have said no to the song after listening to it. Charan said that with AI, composers are not giving singers the opportunity to choose whether they want to sing the song or not. 

He added: "It's not right if all the songs can be sung by SPB or Malaysia Vasudevan because of the love you have for them."

While replicating a popular singer's voice using AI can be a way of paying tribute to their legacy for many composers, Charan explained the downsides of the trend. 

Citing the example of Malaysia Vasudevan, he said that the singer many brilliant songs such as Poongaaturu Thirumbuma which cannot be replicated using AI. "You can replicate the voice, but you cannot replicate the emotion that comes with listening to those songs nowadays."

Vettaiyan's composers, however, were not the only ones to use the vocals of late singers to enhance their composition. Grammy-winning music composer AR Rahman also did the same for a song in Thalaiva's Lal Salaam. 

For the song Thimiri Yezhuda, Rehman used AI to recreate the voices of late singers Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed. Rahman obtained permission from the singers' families while emphasising the ethical use of technology.