Okay, let’s talk about the ghost in the machine — or in this case, the gospel voice that doesn’t actually have lungs. Last week, Solomon Ray — an AI-generated “artist” — landed at the top of the iTunes Christian and gospel albums chart.
His Christmas EP, “A Soulful Christmas”, features songs like “Soul to the World” and “Jingle Bell Soul,” and he’s pulling in over 324,000 monthly listeners. That’s more than some real-life, real-singing, real-praying artists can dream of.
But here’s the catch: Solomon Ray doesn’t exist. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. There is no guy named Solomon Ray. No vocal cords. No Sunday school memories. No holy choir practice. Just code. Software. An algorithm engineered to sound like an ultra-soulful gospel crooner. And somehow, that’s exactly what’s got some folks clutching their pearls.
Enter Forrest Frank, a Christian artist who’s not thrilled about the whole thing. His concern? AI doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. And in the Christian music space, that matters. It’s not just about sound, he argues — it’s about spirit. About what’s inside the vessel that delivers the music.
But here’s where the whole conversation gets murky, fast. People without the Holy Spirit — secular artists, agnostics, atheists — have been making incredible, emotionally resonant Christian music for decades.
Music that inspires, comforts, uplifts. And nobody’s throwing a fit about that. So is the issue really about the soul behind the music? Or is it about discomfort with the method of delivery?
Because, if we’re being honest, the Solomon Ray situation isn’t that different from using Auto-Tune, synths, or sample packs. For years, artists have built entire tracks from loops and beats generated by software. This is just the next level. The lead singer is a software too. That’s all. You’re not replacing the songwriter, the arranger, or the creative vision — you’re just upgrading the tools.
And that brings us to the uncomfortable truth: If AI-generated music is beating you to the top of the charts, maybe it’s time to up your game. If an algorithm can move people emotionally with its output, it’s not cheating — it’s competing.
Yes, we should know when something is AI-created. Full transparency is fair. But after that? The rest is up to the audience. If the people press play, add to playlists, and buy the EP, then guess what? That’s music. Welcome to the future.
So whether you’re singing with soul or scripting the soul, the game hasn’t changed — only the players have.
