Topline
A song apparently created using AI to memorialize Charlie Kirk is going viral on social media, where many users have mocked the AI creation’s vocals—but it’s only the latest AI song honoring the late conservative activist to rack up millions of views, some of which purported to be sung by popular singers and duped some listeners.
The apparently AI-generated song “We Are Charlie Kirk” has gone viral on TikTok. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
The song, “We Are Charlie Kirk,” was released on streaming platforms by an artist named Spalexma, an apparently AI-generated act with no social media presence that has released more than a dozen faith-based albums this year.
Streaming platform Deezer, which has an AI-generated music detection tool, flagged “We Are Charlie Kirk” and other releases by Spalexma on its platform as “AI-generated content.”
The song was released on Sept. 16, days after Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a university in Utah, but it surged on social media platforms this week and has been used as an audio in more than 37,000 TikTok videos.
“We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame / We’ll fight for the Gospel, we’ll honor his name,” the song’s chorus goes, but many of the top TikToks using the audio have chastised or mocked the song for its AI vocals.
Why Did The “we Are Charlie Kirk” Song Go Viral?
The song became a viral hit on TikTok earlier this week after a user posted it and called it “genuinely the worst song” they have heard, receiving more than 7 million views and 1.1 million likes. Many of the top comments slammed the song, with one user claiming the song has an “AI accent” and others criticizing the AI creation’s loudly passionate, dramatic vocals. A similar post on X, viewed more than 8 million times, also slammed the song over its apparently AI-generated vocals. Many of the videos posted using the audio include videos of users reacting to or mocking the song, with some attempting to imitate the AI creation’s voice. But some users took the song more seriously, posting actual covers to honor the slain activist. Another video, viewed nearly 500,000 times, depicted an AI-generated Vice President JD Vance singing the song in front of a large crowd memorializing Kirk. The video was posted by ViVO Tunes, a TikTok and YouTube account that has racked up millions of views posting AI-generated depictions of various conservative personalities singing songs.
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