The Rolling Stones use deepfake technology to appear decades younger in new music video

The Rolling Stones Use Deepfake Tech to De-Age Themselves in Music Video

The Rolling Stones' new music video features a de-aged version of the band created using deepfake technology. On Thursday, The Rolling Stones released the music video for In the Stars the first track released from the group's upcoming album Foreign Tongues, due out on July 10. In the video, directed by Francois Rousselet, the legendary rock band appears decades younger than its real-life members, who are now in their late 70s and early 80s. Rousselet used deepfake technology to digitally de-age current band members Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, and Keith Richards. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the technology was provided by Deep Voodoo, the AI company founded by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The In the Stars video shows digitally younger versions of The Rolling Stones performing in a warehouse surrounded by fans, with the band designed to resemble how its members looked in the late 1970s. The video also features actress Odessa A'zion, who at one point licks the digitally de-aged Jagger's face. In another scene, she places a cigarette between Wood's lips while sitting with the band on a couch. The project is the latest high-profile music video to use Deep Voodoo's technology. The company previously worked on Kendrick Lamar's 2022 video for The Heart Part 5 which digitally transformed the rapper into figures including O.J. Simpson, Kanye West, and Kobe Bryant. Deep Voodoo also helped digitally de-age Billy Joel in the music video for his 2024 song Turn the Lights Back On. The Hollywood Reporter says that it remains unclear exactly how the deepfake process was created, although the video credits list body doubles for Jagger, Richards, and Wood. The credits also include several deepfake artists, as well as an "AI data wrangler" working on the project. De-aging technology has become increasingly common in filmmaking. Last year saw the release of Robert Zemeckis' film Here starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Here follows multiple generations of couples and families as they inhabit the same home over many thousands of years. For the movie, Hanks and Wright were digitally de-aged with AI-assisted technology Metaphysic Live, which face-swaps in real-time. For example, 58-year-old Wright was de-aged using footage from her at age 19 to be paired with her present-day performance. However, the use of de-aging AI technology in Here sparked debate. Critics raised concerns that AI-generated younger versions of major stars could eventually reduce opportunities for younger performers or lead studios to rely more heavily on digital recreations of established actors. As BBC Magazine noted last year, "de-ageing has gone from being a derided novelty to a useful film-making tool in fewer than 20 years."

'South Park' Creators' AI Company Made The Rolling Stones Young Again for "In The Stars" Music Video

The Rolling Stones look straight out of the 1970s in the legendary rock band's music video for new single "In the Stars," thanks to de-aging technology courtesy of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's AI company Deep Voodoo. In the François Rousselet-directed video, which features Odessa A'zion, the band is rocking out in a warehouse as a crowd of fans dances around them and a slew of other musicians join in on the song too. At one point A'zion licks the digitally de-aged Mick Jagger's face. "Are you kidding me? It's my dream," A'zion said of starring in a Rolling Stones music video. "The first record that I ever got that I listened to from start to finish was Tattoo You. I'm obsessed with the Rolling Stones. This is in my bucket list for sure." Check out the full music video here. Overall, the deepfakes are impressive, if not maybe a tad uncanny, showing a near-perfect replica of how Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood looked in the late '70s. It's hard to say exactly what the process to develop the deepfakes was, though the video's credits list body doubles for Jagger, Richards and Wood in the cast. Meanwhile, the video's credits on the Deep Voodoo side lists an "AI data wrangler" as well as deepfake artists for all three of the band members' AIs. This is just the latest major deepfake music video for Deep Voodoo, which had also provided the tech for Kendrick Lamar's famed "The Heart Part 5" video from 2022, morphing the rapper's face into that of O.J. Simpson, Kanye West and Kobe Bryant among others. More similar to the Stones video, Deep Voodoo also helped de-age Billie Joel in the music video for his 2024 song "Turn the Lights Back On." "Our goal is to make beautiful, cinematic film and television that never pulls the viewer out because the effect doesn't look right," Deep Voodoo executive Jennifer Howell told THR in an article about the company published in March. The "In the Stars" music video is the latest in the Stones' rollout for their upcoming 25th album Foreign Tongues, which they revealed last week. Along with "In the Stars," the band also released the album's opening track "Rough and Twisted" as well.