RGM hops over the pond to Brazil this time, for this little number from Sao Paulo’s Preta Le, called “Jorge”.
Ahead of listening, I checked out the blurb from the track and it’s origins, and it says the track takes inspiration from singer Letícia Cristina, whose music has reflected themes of struggle, particularly around survival, dignity, and self-expression.
There’s also mentions of political messaging in a poetic manner and reflection, which is interesting to me, but more on that later.
Let’s focus on the track itself for a moment.
Instant funky beats, which have a certain afro-carribean mixed in with electronic charm, making it into something you could possibly dance to in a club or just sip your cocktail to during a sunset, you decide.
After quite a powerful start, it does relax a little bit, which is quite nice, giving a pretty mixed genre vibe, there’s injections of reggae, jazz and samba in there for sure, but there’s more, which just makes me know that this would require intricate musicianship and production, there’s a lot going on here and in parts, quite overstimulating.
Usually I’d be impressed at the amount of production and work going on here but there was just a little bit too much of a mix going on here for it to really tick all my boxes.
Now I can’t speak on the lyrics or political messaging per say, as I don’t speak the language that is being sung, however, Preta Le is a virtual artist, which generally, you get them, there’s Gorillaz (although we know the people behind the sketches…) and Preta Le is declared as not driven by “automated creativity”, but yet, has been created by using the artificial intelligence app “Suno”.
For this reason, I’d argue that this is automated creativity, despite where you may have inspiration from.
You need a creative streak and/or background in you to persue any sort of music production, as a producer or as a musician generally, but you can’t authentically recreate live play of a musician, whether that’s by vocal, instrument or beats, or anything in between.
Mr. Press who is behind the virtual artist Preta Le says that “Preta Le is more than a virtual singer. She is an artistic statement about identity, origin, resistance, and the future. A voice born in the favela, crossing technology, and emerging as a living, critical, and necessary cultural presence.”
However, I’m inclined to disagree, whilst I think emerging technology and software for the music industry can be amazing, I think authenticity is key with raw voices, real life beats, real life saxophones or samba singers, anything that brings it to life!
So whilst the concept is good, I appreciate the inspiration of themeing and what the sound could be achieved, but in reality, the execution needs further improvement to bring it to life, without the use of AI, as that will never replace original talent.
FIND LE PRETA ON INSTAGRAM HERE
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