The project is currently in its “final development phase.” No release date has been set yet for this work titled Edith.
An animated biopic project of Edith Piaf, the iconic figure of French music, is set to be developed with the help of artificial intelligence, announced Warner Music and the rights holders of the artist on Tuesday.
No release date has been set yet for this work titled Edith. The project is currently in its “final development phase” and is based on some internally created images, as disclosed by Warner Music France.
The announcement of this “innovative and revolutionary technological project, using AI to recreate her voice and image,” as stated in a press release, comes as 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the singer of “Non, je ne regrette rien.”
After recent unauthorized uses of AI in music by amateurs – such as a duo created using the voices of Drake and The Weeknd without their consent – the process reached a new milestone with the release of a new official Beatles song in early November.
“Now and Then” was born from a demo recorded in the late 1970s by John Lennon in his New York apartment. After his assassination in 1980, his widow Yoko Ono handed over the tape, featuring vocals and piano, to the other members of the band in 1994.
AI technologies recently allowed for the isolation of Lennon’s voice and mixing it with recordings of the other musicians, including George Harrison before his death in 2001. The song was completed and released by the two remaining members, 81-year-old Paul McCartney and 83-year-old Ringo Starr.
For Edith, the AI technology “trained on hundreds of vocal excerpts and images, some of which date back over 80 years, will bring back the distinct voice and image of Piaf to enhance the authenticity and emotional impact of her story,” the press release further explains. “Recordings of Edith Piaf’s greatest songs will of course be used in their original version.”
This 90-minute film, “set in Paris and New York between the 1920s and the 1960s,” will be “narrated by Piaf’s voice and will unveil previously unknown aspects of her life,” the text further specifies.
