Is That Song Stuck in Your Head Actually AI?

A swarm of viral songs with similar names, lyrics, and melodies has appeared across streaming platforms and social media. The tracks are close to phrases like “Angel Above Me” and “Run Run River,” and many have millions of streams. Several versions appear to be generated by AI and are based on a human-made song, “Angels Above Me,” released in 2019 by the reggae band Stick Figure. The original has also gained streams, but listeners may not know it because co-writers are not always credited. AI music has charted before, yet improved generators can flood platforms and bypass safeguards. Upload volume is extremely high, with 106,000 songs added daily in 2025, limiting spam-filtering effectiveness.

"Late last month, a swarm of songs with near-identical names, lyrics, and melodies started to go viral on streaming platforms across the world. These tracks were not exactly the same-some have a little more guitar than others, some are more dance-oriented-but they're all named something close to "Angel Above Me" or "Run Run River," after the song's first line. They've accrued millions of streams on Spotify and TikTok, and versions have hit No. 1 on iTunes in Germany and Austria."

"Many of them appear to have been generated by AI. It turns out that they're based on a human-made song, "Angels Above Me," which was released in 2019 by the reggae band Stick Figure. That track has enjoyed a streaming bump in recent weeks too-but many of the people listening to the new remixes may not even know about the original, because the song's actual co-writers aren't always credited."

"AI music has gone viral before and charted before, but song generators are now good and fast enough that they can flood the zone, creating tracks that slip past the safeguards of major streaming platforms and distributors. Spam-filtering systems can do only so much to stem the flow; according to data from the analytics firm Luminate, 106,000 songs (both AI-generated and not) were uploaded to streamers and other platforms every day in 2025."

"Musicians copy one another for legitimate reasons all the time. Parody law, as the comedy albums of Weird Al Yankovic remind us, is expansive; you can often get away with ripping off melodies and lyrics as long as it's clear that you're mocking them. Covering another artist's song is also legal, as long as you get the right license before you do so. The same goes for sampling-knitting together different musical clips to create something new-and in"

Read at The Atlantic