Century collaboration thanks to artificial intelligence: on September 9, “Angels (Beethoven AI)” by Robbie Williams will be released in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom (DT).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was used to add Beethoven-style compositions to the legendary global hit. Now the superstar is releasing the song to celebrate his 25-year solo career: the new “Angels” version is part of the greatest-hits deluxe album “XXV.”.
The new “Angles” version is already available here.
“For me, it’s an incredible honor to be associated with Beethoven – an artist of enormous cultural significance, value and excellence,” says Robbie Williams.
For Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, the new arrangement is an expression of the creative power that emerges when humans and machines work together: “How creative can an artificial intelligence be? Is the result of a machine “real” art? We have already explored these questions with the Beethoven X project and the completion of the 10thSymphony. Now we are immensely pleased that we were able to further explore the interplay between humans and algorithms with a world star like Robbie Williams. I like the song and I’m excited to see how it’s received.”
AI presents “Angels” in a new guise
For Robbie Williams, “Angels” is one of the most significant songs of his career. In 1997, the love song catapulted him from Take That member to solo world artist. 25 years later, the DT team, together with “Angels” co-writer and producer Guy Chambers and composer Jules Buckley, came up with a special experiment. The AI, which completed Beethoven’s 10th Symphony, presents one of the most famous pop classics in new musical guise with elements in the style of the old master. Ludwig van Beethoven, as co-composer for the orchestral arrangement, in a sense “lends a hand” himself, so that artists separated by centuries make music together.
Guy Chambers first rearranged the song in its basic structure. Together with project leader Matthias Röder and composer Walter Werzowa, he suggested that the algorithm for the intro should interweave the Moonlight Sonata with “Angels”. For the instrumental part, the AI was freer and drew from all of Beethoven’s works. The result was a work of one piece.
