The song, believed to be released by Justin Bieber, includes lyrics like “I lost myself at the Diddy party,” and has been viewed millions of times on social platforms including TikTok, X and YouTube. Researchers told CBS News that the song was likely created using artificial intelligence.
The song first appeared on various platforms in April, with the TikTok video garnering over 7 million views. The song recently went viral after Sean “Diddy” Combs was indicted last week on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation of a prostitution act. Combs denies the charges.
Lyrics include “The fame and the fortune weren’t worth it,” and “I wanted a new Ferrari, but it cost me a lot more than my soul.” The song appears to be a reference to allegations of sexual abuse and other misconduct at Combs’ mansion.
There is no record of Bieber ever releasing the song and it is not in his catalog. A representative for Bieber did not respond to a CBS News request for comment. Bieber signed Combs’ protégé Usher in 2008.
Many social media users have pointed out that the song sounds like it was created by AI, while others believe it was released by Bieber, who has reportedly used the song in over 4,500 TikTok videos alone, according to CBS News.
File Photo: Sean “Diddy” Combs and Justin Bieber at a party in Atlanta on February 5, 2014. Prince Williams/FilmMagic/Getty Images
According to Google Trends data, searches for “Bieber” and “Diddy” combined peaked in late March and early April when the song began to spread on social media, and searches for the two artists peaked again in late September when the song began to spread again.
Expert opinion
CBS News ran the song through several AI voice detection tools and some results indicated that the voice, or at least parts of it, were likely generated by AI.
Additionally, Steven Stahl, co-founder of AI voice detection tool Ai-SPY, told CBS News that he believes the song may have been generated by AI. Stahl said it’s likely that someone wrote the lyrics and melody, uploaded them to a website, and used a clone of Justin Bieber’s voice to create the song.
“AI will be able to help anyone make music easier, faster and more efficiently,” Staal said. “The downside is that anyone can make music, so talent will no longer be a requirement to make great music.”
Zohaib Ahmed, CEO and founder of AI detection company Resemble AI, told CBS News that his company’s tools found the song was likely generated by an AI.
Combs’ music catalog saw a surge in streaming following his indictment, with an average increase of 18.3% in the week of his arrest compared to the week before, according to industry data and analytics firm Luminate.
Layla Ferris and Cait Bladt contributed to this report.
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