AI and its most recent advances might be one of the most polarising things that have happened this year. While some have likened its potential impact to that of nuclear weapons and warned of its immediate dangers, others have embraced its various opportunities and used it to progress culture and art.

So far, this innovation has taken the form of uncanny celebrity chatbots like Billie, Meta’s Kendall Jenner AI copy. In the latest utilisation of AI and deepfakes, however, it has taken the form of celebrity bodybuilders. You know, something society is severely lacking in.

Iranian-Dutch singer and songwriter Sevdaliza has teamed up with Grimes, the queen of techno and futurism, for the track ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. The song is a serious jam and will definitely be making it into my Spotify Wrapped this year. Nevertheless, the music and lyrics aren’t even the most interesting thing about the collaboration, it’s the video no one can stop talking about: 

The music video dropped on YouTube on Thursday 9 November 2023 and is already getting some wild reactions from netizens, who are fascinated by the bizarre AI-generated deepfakes throughout.

@sevdaliza

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER STARRING SEVDALIZA GRIMES MADONNA JULIA FOX FERG #sevdaliza #nothinglastsforever #grimes

♬ Nothing Lasts Forever (with Grimes) - Sevdaliza

“Concept is insane—visionary isn’t even the word,” one TikToker commented. “The aesthetics of this video are top tier,” another user noted. “This is iconic,” a final netizen concluded.

The clip depicts world stars such as Madonna, Julia Fox and A$AP Ferg as bulked-out bodybuilders in an empty warehouse. The song is supposed to touch on themes of female masculinity and machismo culture. Consequently, the women are depicted as their own strong men, and we stan.

In addition, the video also touches on the transformative potential of future technologies, as well as the idea of the femenoid robot.

“Deepfakes gets a lot of hate and love. Deepfaking icons on a body that obviously doesn’t belong to the artist involved. It becomes a tool rather than specifically focussing on deepfake as sort of a gimmick,” the video’s director Willem Kantine said in an interview with Dazed.