10/15/2026
Auntie Boop’s Random Pep Talk: Keep making stuff, you crazy kids.
In some circles, I’ve seen folks pushing back against AI in music more than ever these days. AI does make the industry infinitely harder for the rest of us (in fact, I hit a hard AI-related obstacle yesterday). But here are some things AI will never experience:
Being in a foreign country and randomly encountering expats who loved your music so much, they brought their copies of your CDs with them to their new homes so far away. And signing those albums.
Having someone tell you how your music got them through a difficult time. And the occasional worry of hoping you didn’t let anyone down, and the human element of not always being the best version of yourself.
Looking back on some of your earliest recordings, cringing a little, and then remembering that it means how far you’ve come. Tracing the evolution of your narrative.
The intensity of being asked to sing someone home in a hospice situation, and the heavy honor that you meant that much to someone.
Something so absurdly funny happening during a show, you have to take a short break just to pull yourself together and try to stop laughing.
Dealing with a debilitating attack of nerves, and somehow managing to smash your way through it.
Spontaneous one-time live performances with other musicians that were so fiery, you remember each other decades later.
It’s our very nature to create. But more and more, I find myself embracing the authenticity. That includes the raw, the pitchy, the inexperienced, the angular, and the vulnerable. Because in a world where we’re all becoming so detached from one another, it’s real, it’s endangered, and it’s precious.
What are your most noteworthy experiences that a bot could never simulate? It doesn’t have to be about music.
