Timbaland is doubling down after facing intense backlash over his latest AI-powered music project, dropping a surreal video on Friday (June 6) that featured animated animals mocking critics and defending his controversial new virtual artist. Just one day after launching his AI music venture Stage Zero and unveiling its first digital performer, TaTa, the legendary […]
Timbaland is doubling down after facing intense backlash over his latest AI-powered music project, dropping a surreal video on Friday (June 6) that featured animated animals mocking critics and defending his controversial new virtual artist.
Just one day after launching his AI music venture Stage Zero and unveiling its first digital performer, TaTa, the legendary producer fired off a bizarre, AI-generated response video.
In it, a giraffe-like character at a mic scoffs, “AI is ruining music. Whatever. Go ahead and cry me a river since Timbo’s stamp is on that, too.”
Another creature took aim at the quality of human-made music, saying, “Y’all cry about AI taking your spot, but your song’s barely mixed. Why would we train it on that?”
The video continued with more animated jabs, including one character saying, “Timbaland ain’t the villain, he just ain’t babysitting y’all no more,” and another adding, “You worried about AI stealing your sound? Bro, you ain’t got one.”
The message was loud, weird and clear—but it didn’t land the way Timbaland may have hoped.
The comment section on his social media lit up with criticism, with many accusing him of disrespecting real artists and dismissing concerns about AI’s impact on creativity.
“You’re a legend man but this isn’t it, listen to the people,” one user wrote. “Art is human expression, doesn’t matter if the ‘songs’ are good, it’s not art, it’s vapid. there are surely better uses for AI.”
Another added, “This was an extremely bad move – telling your fans they have no talent that would be worthy of AI stealing and to stop crying about it. Mad.”
A third chimed in, “Lmao why u gotta diss real artists to promote your AI, just do your AI.”
Timbaland Introduces AI Artist TaTa
The backlash began Thursday (June 5), when Timbaland introduced Stage Zero, a platform focused on AI-generated music, and its first act, TaTa. The announcement drew immediate pushback from artists and listeners alike, many accusing the producer of abandoning the essence of Hip-Hop and diminishing human creativity.
Veteran producer Young Guru publicly urged him to rethink the move, writing, “Your voice is powerful and way too important to do anything like this… Human expression can never be reduced to this!!! This is way bigger than music!!! I say this in all love.”
Adding fuel to the controversy, the AI platform used for Stage Zero—Suno—is currently being sued by the RIAA for alleged copyright infringement.
Despite the criticism, Timbaland has shown no signs of backing down from his AI ambitions.
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