C’mon CMA Awards… you could have really made the most of the moment.
One of the biggest stories in the country music world as of late has been the infiltration of artificial intelligence within the genre. Earlier this month, it was Whiskey Riff that reported the top song on Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart was a track titled “Walk My Walk,” by an artist called Breaking Rust. For those that don’t know, Breaking Rust is not only a terrible name for an artist… it’s not even a real artist at all.
The song itself is actually credited to someone named Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, who has seemingly also created another “artist” called Defbeatsai, which posts nothing but raunchy AI-generated songs. At least when it comes to the Instagram page for Defbeatsai, it’s disclosed that the songs are AI-generated (I mean, AI is in the name of the artist).
When it comes to the social media for Breaking Rust, that “artist” is described as “Outlaw Country” and “Soul Music for Us.” There’s no mention that Breaking Rust’s music has been created entirely by AI, and “Walk My Walk” in particular is the one that rocketed to the top of the digital sales chart. It became one of the top stories in not just country music, but all of music this month. And now, even more AI acts are jumping up the Billboard Country Digital Songs Sales Chart.
Now, let’s remember… in the age of streaming, digital sales is is a relatively small part of the music industry, and you’re certainly not gonna hear Breaking Rust on country radio (they sound more like soulful, southern rock anyways). But Breaking Rust does have 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, so there’s plenty of reason for concern… and definitely something worth standing up against on one of country music’s biggest nights.
I was tuned into the 2025 CMA Awards all night, and kept waiting for an anti-AI statement from an artist, or for host Lainey Wilson to at least crack a joke with artificial intelligence as the punchline. However, three hours went by, and there wasn’t a singular thing that stood up against AI. The only thing that really mentioned AI in the sphere of the CMA Awards was us here at Whiskey Riff.
After Stephen Wilson Jr. performed his stellar, haunting cover of “Stand By Me” – a song that Wilson Jr. has said connects him with his late father – we posted this:
Yeah, artificial intelligence is still lacking genuine emotion, and I’m not sure it’ll ever get to Stephen Wilson Jr. levels of passion and heart.
AI certainly doesn’t belong in the country music genre, despite it’s recent success on digital sales charts. Maybe that’s why the 2025 CMA Awards decided to completely omit any mention of it during the night? I could see why giving it any attention at all might have a unintended, negative effect, but making a strong, memorable stand against it certainly wouldn’t have hurt anything.
Big miss by the CMA Awards in my opinion…
