Computers do many things well, but expressing emotion is not one of them. So what happens if you ask one to try and sing a heartfelt version of a ’90s power ballad?
“What do machines sing of?” is an art project by Martin Backes that “endlessly sings number-one ballads from the 1990s”. There is little not to love about it. He’s created a software system that tries to apply human sentiments to the sounds that the computer swings, and suggests that the “behaviour of the device seems to reflect a desire, on the part of the machine, to become sophisticated enough to have its very own personality.” What do you think?
[Vimeo]