Irish boy band Westlife has ventured into new territory by releasing a Mandarin song with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). On June 25, they unveiled “Love And Courage,” a track originally performed by Chinese singer Jason Zhang in 2016.
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The quartet, consisting of Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, and Shane Filan, did not perform the song themselves. Instead, the project was a collaboration with China’s Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) and utilized Kugou AIK, the world’s first multilingual AI singing technology developed by TME’s Kugou Music.
This innovative technology allows AI to completely mimic someone’s vocal characteristics after they sing or read a few lines. AIK supports performances in 10 languages, including English, Japanese, and Korean, as well as 15 Chinese dialects such as Cantonese, Hokkien, and Hakka.
Westlife, formed in 1998, has previously engaged with Chinese audiences by performing a Chinese-language song, “The Ordinary Road,” during their first virtual concert on the Chinese social media platform WeChat in December 2021. This song, originally by Chinese singer Pu Shu, was the theme for the 2014 Chinese movie “The Continent” and won Best Original Film Song at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards.
The band’s latest venture follows their successful Westlife With Love Tour 2024 in China, where they performed in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Shenzhen. Their involvement in “Love And Courage” showcases their willingness to explore new avenues and connect with a broader audience through the innovative use of AI technology. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
