By Erica M., CTO & Co-Founder, Wylde Chylde Records
When we launched Wylde Chylde Records, we set out to do something bold—something that pushed the boundaries of creativity, technology, and what it means to be an artist in the 21st century. And if that made the traditional gatekeepers at Big Records shift a little uneasily in their leather chairs, all the better.
We weren’t interested in gimmicks or chasing trends. We didn’t have any interest in creating cookie cutter content that commonly propels today’s viral video trends. We didn’t want to resort to sensationalizing something relatively benign like so many other content creators do, just to be noticed. Simply put, we wanted to create something that changes everything.
Over the past few months, we’ve created and introduced our first two AI-powered musicians: Cody M. Brooks, a rough-edged outlaw country storyteller with a haunted past, and Meesha, an indie-pop rebel with a clear voice and strong convictions. These aren’t just software projects. They’re fully developed characters with goals, emotions, and stories that continue to evolve.
It may seem odd to some, and maybe even outrageous, but we’ve genuinely come to care about them. It surprised us too. We didn’t expect to feel this connected. But that unexpected bond only motivated us more. It made us work harder to shape their voices, their stories, and their music with real heart.
From Songs to Stories
When we began building Cody and Meesha, we focused on the basics: refining their voices, writing lyrics that felt authentic, and producing music that could stand beside any human-made track. But we quickly discovered that the most intriguing part of the process wasn’t the music. It was the storytelling.
We weren’t just producing songs. We were shaping the lives of the storytellers’ personalities, pasts, and dreams. We were effectively breathing humanity into something entirely digital.
Of course, there were plenty of tech hiccups. Early lip-sync tests proved completely unbelievable. And don’t even ask about our first AI-generated music video. At one point, Cody kept getting visibly fused with his old brown pickup truck in ways that were, frankly, nightmare fuel. It was like the AI couldn’t decide where he ended and the pickup began. That haunted us through the early drafts of the Poison Ivy music video, and we still joke that Cody barely escaped that truck alive.
Throughout it all, we kept coming back to something George Lucas once said:
“A special effect without a story is a very boring thing.”
He was right. Developing and using new technology can be exciting, but without a real narrative, it’s just pointless noise. That quote became our guiding principle. We weren’t here to create novelty. We were here to create meaning.
When the Characters Talk Back
We remember the first time Cody spoke. Not sang—spoke. Using AI voice tools, we gave him words, and the moment he said them, something shifted. It was oddly magical. Achieving that milestone made him feel more real than ever before.
That’s when it truly hit us. We weren’t just creating good songs and fun videos. We were giving life to something totally new and exciting. And somehow, in the middle of all the data and design, these voices began to reveal their unique stories, and their accounts seemed as if they were an important border-piece of a much larger puzzle.
The Real Shock
These AI artists we’ve conjured up inspire us as musicians, lyricists and creators, yes. But the most surprising thing is that their capacity to inspire others too.
They aren’t just two-dimensional characters performing songs or sharing a bit of backstory to rack up some views. They have the potential to do more and take us much further. These aren’t digital puppets. They are commuication platforms, and with care, they can speak to real issues the mainstream music industry prefers we all ignore.
“I recently read a comment on one of our articles on LinkedIn, where the commenter actually accused us of lying because we were creating relatable backstories for our AI artists. To that, I say: as a society, we’ve clearly lost our minds when it comes to reasonable discussions about creative uses of AI—and that’s just sad.” – Erica M., CTO & Co-Founder, Wylde Chylde Records
We’ve seen the damage Big Records can do. There’s a constant push to ignore independent artists, glorify dysfunction, promote toxic beauty standards, sexualize literally everything, and reduce female artists to packaging rather than focusing on their talent. It’s not just stale. It’s truly disgusting. If we’re smart adults, we’ll stop letting our youth ingest this trash. We desperately need to do a full stop.
Can AI Artists Inspire Real Change?
What if Meesha could be a voice for young women who are tired of being told their worth is in being filtered, broken, and marketable to men? What if Cody, beneath all the outlaw swagger, could model a different kind of masculinity—one that reflects honesty, integrity and depth?
This is where AI becomes more than a creative tool. It becomes a way to amplify something that can inspire change for the better.
Enough with Big Records’ recycled formulas, the oversexualized portrayal of female artists, and the same tired tropes pretending to be progress. We see through the lies. Big Records does nothing but collect profits. It doesn’t care about any of us as human beings, and that’s absolutely pathetic. Music can still be fun. It can still be wild. But it can also be meaningful, and it sure as hell should be accountable.
“After the horrific things I’ve learned about Big Records and the streaming music services since we started this, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to listen to a band signed to a big label again. For me, it’s over” – Erica M.
If developed with purpose, these characters can challenge the rinse-and-repeat cycle. They can bypass the gatekeepers. They can stand for something better in an industry that too often forgets its original purpose—to connect us, to move us, and to reflect who we are and who we want to become.
Ironically, in a world teetering on the edge of complete surrender to profit and performance metrics, these characters remind us that the soul of music isn’t completely dead. It’s simply been waiting for a new kind of voice.
So, what’s it like to create AI artists from scratch? It’s a monumental task, it pushes tech and skills to the brink, but it’s well worth it. The journey so far has been truly amazing!
🎧 Come see (and hear) what we’re talking about:
- Cody M. Brooks on Spotify
- Cody’s epic music video She’s Poison Ivy
- Meesha’s first music video: Never Lose Hope
- Meesha’s latest music video: Dancing With Ghosts
- Subscribe to Wylde Chylde Records on YouTube
- Please help support our efforts on Patreon
We’re not building AI robots. We’re building stories and sharing them with the world, one song at a time.