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Brenda Lee Revives Holiday Classic with AI Twist
This festive season, Brenda Lee is set to reclaim her spot in the holiday music landscape, posing a noteworthy challenge for traditional favorites. Last December, Lee’s iconic track “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” made a remarkable resurgence, climbing to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for three weeks—65 years post its initial release. At the age of 78, she secured the title of the oldest artist to top the chart, a testament to the enduring appeal of her music. This revival was bolstered by the release of a new official music video and a targeted promotional campaign that encouraged streaming of this beloved holiday hit. Eventually, Mariah Carey’s perennial favorite “All I Want For Christmas Is You” reclaimed the top position, yet Lee’s success hinted at a broader possibility for other Christmas songs vying for prominence.
In a striking move for the current year, Lee has taken a unique and somewhat futuristic approach to enhance her streaming performance. Collaborating with producer Auero Baqueiro, she has embraced artificial intelligence to create a Spanish-language rendition of her classic tune, titled “Noche Buena y Navidad.” This innovative version utilizes the original 1958 instrumental track while replacing Lee’s vocals with an AI-generated Spanish vocal, crafted through the SoundLabs AI plug-in MicDrop.
Expressing her enthusiasm for this new venture, Lee stated, “I am so blown away by this new Spanish version of ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,’ which was created with the help of AI. Throughout my career, I performed and recorded many songs in different languages, but I never recorded ‘Rockin’ in Spanish, which I would have loved to do. To have this out now is pretty incredible and I’m happy to introduce the song to fans in a new way.”
As the holiday season approaches, this intriguing blend of nostalgia and contemporary technology not only reinvigorates a classic but also showcases the evolving landscape of music production and distribution in the digital age. Listen to the new rendition below.
Source
www.stereogum.com