Mariah Carey Denies AI Involvement in Spotify Wrapped Video Amid Fan Speculation

Mariah Carey Denies Being AI-Generated in Spotify Wrapped Video

Mariah Carey has dismissed claims that she used generative AI to make her Spotify Wrapped video, following accusations from social media users. On Tuesday, Carey released a video to thank fans who were listed as her top fans on Spotify Wrapped, an annual round-up of users' listening habits on the streaming platform for the last year. In the 20-second clip, Carey, who is wearing red lipstick and a Santa Claus-inspired outfit in a dimly lit set, tells fans: "Your support through the years is the greatest gift I could ask for," However, many social media users reacted with suspicion to Carey's video -- with fans questioning whether the singer was real or AI-generated in the footage based on her appearance. "This has to be AI," one user writes on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter). Meanwhile, another fan similarly doubted the singer's authenticity in the video: "Not Mariah Carey's Spotify message being AI. We are so doomed." However, Carey has responded to the allegations on social media and denied that she used an AI-generated likeness of herself in the clip. Instead, the singer blamed her seeming AI-generated appearance on bad lighting on the set and her red lipstick. "Bad lighting and a red lip have you all thinking this is AI?" Carey writes in response to a fan account that shared the video on X. "There's a reason I'm not a fan of either of those things." After Carey dismissed the allegations, a social media user used images to support the singer's assertions that the video was real and not AI-generated. The fan pointed out that the singer appeared to have filmed her Spotify Wrapped message on the same day that she did a photo shoot for her single All I Want for Christmas is You. The fan says that Carey seems to have filmed the Spotify Wrapped video in an identical festive outfit and the same set as this photo shoot.

Mariah Carey Responds to Claims Her Spotify Wrapped Video Was Made With AI

Mariah Carey is setting the record straight on her 2024 Spotify Wrapped video. The "Honey" singer responded to speculation that the personalized video, in which she thanks fans for their support, was made using artificial intelligence in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday night. "Bad lighting and a red lip have you all thinking this is AI??" Carey wrote in response to a fan account that shared the video. "There's a reason I'm not a fan of either of those things! About to celebrate #Christmastime with my Boston #lambily!" In the clip, Carey is shown wearing a Santa-themed ensemble with festive red lipstick as she expresses her gratitude to fans. "Your support through the years is the greatest gift I could ask for," she says in the video. "This year, we're celebrating the 30th anniversary of my album Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy listening to it, and I can't wait to share new music with you soon. Happy Holidays!" Fans questioned Carey's authenticity in response to the fan account post Carey replied to, writing comments like, "It looks like AI omg," and "Why does it feel like an AI made video?" Carey's video is one of many recorded messages that popular artists made for 2024's Wrapped, which was released on Wednesday. Users of the music streaming platform have criticized Spotify for using generative AI in its annual music data roundup. This year's Wrapped includes an AI-powered podcast in lieu of more detailed data metrics, such as 2023's Sound Towns, which matched music preferences to geographic locations. "This year, we're taking your personalized Wrapped experience to the next level and bringing fans closer to the artists they love by enhancing two of our popular AI features, AI DJ and AI Playlist, and adding a new one: Your Spotify Wrapped AI podcast," Spotify said on its website. "Through the combination of Spotify's powerful personalization technology and generative AI, we've created hyper-personalized Wrapped experiences that connect millions of listeners worldwide with the music and audio they love." Spotify has yet to respond to users' complaints about this year's Wrapped offering. Carey is currently performing on her Christmas Time tour, which is scheduled to end on Dec. 17 at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

Mariah Carey blames 'bad lighting' in Spotify Christmas video...

Mariah Carey is denying claims that her 2024 Spotify Wrapped video message to fans was AI-generated. Carey, dubbed the "Queen of Christmas," addressed the viral video that caused a stir among fans. "Bad lighting and a red lip have you all thinking this is AI??" Carey, 55, declared on X. "There's a reason I'm not a fan of either of those things!" The "All I Want for Christmas" shared her comments ahead of her Boston performance. In the Spotify Wrapped video message, Carey was seen wearing a red and white Santa Claus dress, with Christmas lights in the background. "Thank you so much for listening to my music on Spotify. Your support through the year is the greatest gift I could ask for," she shared in the video. "This year we're celebrating the 30th anniversary of my album 'Merry Christmas.' I hope you enjoy listening to it and I can't wait to share new music with you soon." She concluded her personal Spotify video message by blowing a kiss and wishing her fans a happy holiday season. Several fans were convinced that Carey's video was AI-generated. "For half a second, I literally thought this was AI earlier... you just look so perfect!" one fan wrote. Another comment read, "I thought it was AI too... But I'm glad you did the message!" "Wait it's not AI?..." others questioned. Comments continued to point out that Carey criticized the staff responsible for "bad lighting." "Not the shade at the lighting crew," a fan added. Carey's comments come amid a fight that broke out in the middle of one of her Christmas concerts. While the Grammy winner was in the middle of performing, "All I Want for Christmas is You" two men shoved each other in the audience during the heated exchange. In the video, a woman attempted to hold one of the men back, while Carey appeared unphased during the brawl. The fight seemingly began after a woman sitting close to the stage shoved another woman sitting in front of her. The blonde woman who got pushed turned and threw her drink at the brunette behind her, according to video shared online. The two men presumably then got involved. "Where's the f -- king security???" someone off-screen can be heard saying. Meanwhile, Carey kept performing her hit Christmas song to close out the show. Carey's Christmas hit has been a holiday staple since it was released in 1994. "All I Want for Christmas is You" topped the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold more than 10 million copies.

Mariah Carey responds to claims her Spotify Wrapped video was made with AI

In the 20-second clip, Carey, dressed in a red and white outfit, thanked fans who regularly listen to her music for their support and blew a kiss at the camera. The video dropped Dec. 4 as part of the annual Spotify Wrapped, a roundup of personalized stats for the streaming platform's users. Some fans thought the video wasn't actually Carey, however, with several X users posting that they thought the clip was an example of AI. "Bad lighting and a red lip have you all thinking this is AI??" Carey said on X Thursday while re-sharing the clip. "There's a reason I'm not a fan of either of those things! About to celebrate #Christmastime with my Boston #lambily!" Lambily is the name that Carey uses to refer to her fans. It's a mixture of the words "lamb" and "family." Online, people thanked Carey for clearing up the confusion. "For half a second, I literally thought this was AI earlier lol you just look so perfect!" one X user said. "I got your message on @Spotify and I knew it was you and loved the out of character red lipstick but knew it was for a festive occasion. Loved it and appreciate you and all you do for the lambily!" another added. (In response, Carey shared an emoji of two red hearts.) Spotify released Spotify Wrapped on Wednesday, Dec. 4. This year, Taylor Swift was crowned the platform's most-streamed artist for the second year in a row, while Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso" was hailed the most-listened-to song on Spotify in 2024. While Carey says her video was not created via AI, aspects of Spotify Wrapped this year did involve artificial intelligence. This year's roundup offered features that use generative AI, including the Spotify Wrapped AI podcast, a personalized overview of each user's listening habits, and the Wrapped AI playlist, which can generate playlists based on prompts.

Mariah Carey Denies That Her Holiday Video Is AI Slop, But We're Not Convinced, for Obvious Reasons

Christmas queen Mariah Carey has released her latest yuletide dispatch -- and it looks an awful lot like it was made with AI. As part of Spotify's annual "Wrapped" campaign, which calculates users' top songs, the "All I Want For Christmas" singer provided a video to her top fans that appeared to show the star perching in front of a holiday tree while rocking some Santa-style red and white threads. The video, however, immediately felt off: the diva's lips didn't match up with her words, she was swaying strangely, and her perfectly-coiffed blonde hair was moving in peculiar ways. "I think [it's] AI," one commenter on the r/popculturechat subreddit said of the video. "The tone/inflection she is speaking in just really doesn't match anything else on screen. It sounds like a prerecorded message, especially when she says 'thank you soo much.'" Over on X-formerly-Twitter, where the video was posted by a fan account, folks had similar -- if not more vulgar -- takes. As AI speculation continued to spread, Carey took to X to issue a fiery rebuttal. "Bad lighting and a red lip have you all thinking this is AI??" the seasonal diva wrote. "There's a reason I'm not a fan of either of those things!" Others also jumped to her defense, claiming they could tell it was real "because you can see her eyes moving as she reads the script." "I don't know what's worse," yet another X user wrote, "the fact people think this is AI or the fact that it isn't and she genuinely sounds this monotonous." In the wake of Carey's official denial, we can't say for sure that the video was generated by AI -- but consider us suspicious, even if that puts us on the naughty list.

AI Mariah Carey Isn't Real and Can't Hurt You -- It's Just 'Bad Lighting and a Red Lip'

Coldplay Will Bring Some 'Moon Music' to the 2024 Billboard Music Awards It's a true sign of our grim, uncanny times that we're at a moment when something real can be completely confused for something AI-generated. Mariah Carey learned that the hard way with a short clip she recorded for Spotify Wrapped, thanking fans, as always, for their support. As the clip spread around some Carey fan pages on social media, the replies were swiftly seized by claims that it must've been created using artificial intelligence. To be fair, it's not the most charismatic clip you'll ever see of Carey, lending it a bit of that weird, rote emptiness so much AI-generated stuff has. And in debunking the claims, Carey herself even acknowledged some of the visual's faults, which may have fueled the speculation. "Bad lighting and a red lip have you all thinking this is AI??" she wrote on social media. "There's a reason I'm not a fan of either of those things!" (That this quip can so easily be read as quintessential Carey shade at the current aesthetic value of AI art, makes it all the better. "Bad lighting and a red lip" could be the "I don't know her" for the AI art era.) Carey is, of course, in the middle of her always-busy holiday season, especially as she celebrates the 30th anniversary of her 1994 Merry Christmas album and perennial smash "All I Want for Christmas Is You." The singer has spent much of the past month on her annual holiday tour and has just a handful of dates left. The next gig is tomorrow, Dec. 7, in Baltimore, and the tour wraps on Dec. 17 in Brooklyn.