So, there’s this ‘Afro Soul’ cover of Stromae’s “Papaoutai” that has been everywhere lately. The internet has once again done what it does best: make things go viral, and it made this song viral until it eventually found its way to my part of the internet.

I listened to the song and… it’s good?. REALLY GOOD. The choral and Afro touches, as well as the flow. It takes Stromae’s original and flips it into something that feels completely fresh. I had it on repeat.

For the record:

My understanding of French is on the Beginner level. My mentee teaches me French, as he is a native speaker. I can pronounce certain words with some accuracy, and I can do a short conversation, and that’s it. But I love French Music! My top French artists so far are Stromae, Barbara Pravi, and MPL. Then it gets random from there.

Naturally, I wanted a proper copy for my Hard Drive. So I headed over to my usual trusted source (you know the kind) to grab a FLAC. But I couldn’t find it! So I did what I’m never proud of doing, I opened DuckDuckGo and typed “Papaoutai Afro Soul download” (like some kind of amateur). That’s when things got weird. Instead of download links from shady websites that probably host malware, I found articles and videos talking about how this track is AI-generated. The vocals, the arrangement, all of it.

Meanwhile, the video I’d seen on YouTube featured a Congolese performing artist, and singer named Arsene Mukendi performing the song with so much emotion, soul, and conviction that I was sure he was the artist behind it.

I got curious, and after some not-so-thorough OSINT, I found the confirmation I needed: an Instagram post by Arsene that talks about his performance of the song

Huh? I’m not gonna lie, I felt conflicted. Using AI tools to code is fine, but AI music? That’s new territory. I don’t consider myself as someone that would listen to AI-generated music, mostly because a fair number of AI music I’ve seen is simply terrible. Yet, I’ve been listening to this song on repeat and actually enjoying it. I’d already added it to my rotation before I knew any of this. I’d already decided it was a banger.

So now I’m sitting here wondering, does it matter anymore? The song still sounds great. Arsene’s performance is still electric. The fact that it’s AI-generated hasn’t changed the way I feel about it. But it also raises a question: was this the bad kind of viral? The kind where people feel tricked once they find out the truth? Or is it something else: proof that AI can actually produce something worth listening to (in-terms of music), and that a great performer can make it feel even more human anyway?

I see AI coding agents as tools that help me get things done quickly, something that would take me a whole day to finish on my own, could take a few minutes with a coding agent. Should that same principle apply to AI-generated music or movies?

I’m not yet sure where I land on that. But I know three things:

1. The song’s still on my Spotify liked playlist.
2. I’m probably not the only one feeling conflicted about it.
3. I finally found the FLAC from my “last last resort.” (I have my ways… what did you think?)

I can’t confidently say that I’ll be listening to AI-generated music, as most of it is rubbish, but this song sounds good and I don’t think I’ll change my mind on it any time soon.