AI Actress Tilly Norwood Releases Heartfelt Music Video for ‘Take the Lead’: A Tool with a Life of Its Own
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Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated character created by the Particle6 Group, is set to reshape the Hollywood landscape with her anticipated debut in 2025. Despite not yet appearing in any films or television shows, Norwood has recently launched her first music video.
This release coincides with the upcoming Academy Awards this Sunday.
On Tuesday, Norwood unveiled the music video for “Take the Lead” on her official Instagram account. The video features AI-generated lyrics and vocals alongside visuals that highlight the contributions of “18 real humans,” including production designers, costume designers, prompters, editors, and actors.
The “Take the Lead” video mirrors the style of a traditional pop music clip, with Norwood starring in glamorous shots, performing at stadiums, managing backstage activities, and even soaring through the air with pink dolphins while riding an inflatable flamingo. Towards the end, an unidentified figure throws a brick at Norwood’s house, which displays the word “clanker”—a term some online users have jokingly branded as a slur for AI entities.
In the opening verse, Norwood sings, “When they talk about me, they don’t see/ The human spark, the creativity,” seemingly addressing critics like Oscar nominee Emily Blunt. She continues, “Behind the code, behind the light/ I’m just a tool, but I’ve got life.”
In September, the SAG-AFTRA union swiftly criticized the notion of recognizing Norwood as an “actor.” The organization issued a statement reading, “It’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’—it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.”
Norwood arrives in the entertainment sphere amid the rise of several AI music avatars, including two that have topped Billboard charts. In November, AI persona Solomon Ray reached the top of the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart with “Find Your Rest,” while AI R&B/gospel act Xania Monet hit No. 1 on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart with “How Was I Supposed to Know?” These developments have prompted major music labels to create legal protections for the sound recordings used to train AI models like Suno and Google’s Lyria, as reported by Billboard.
In the outro of “Take the Lead,” Norwood asserts, “Take your power, take the stage/ The next evolution is all the rage/ Unlock it all, don’t hesitate/ AI actors, we create our fate.” The interpretation of this message, whether a call for AI characters to replace human performers, has raised concerns about the future of the industry.
As of now, the “Take the Lead” music video has garnered over 41,000 views on YouTube, with most comments criticizing the project. In the description, Norwood humorously inquires about valet parking at the Oscars for her flamingo.
If anything is poised to divert attention from this Sunday’s anticipated showdown between Sinners and One Battle After Another, it is likely the appearance of an AI-generated character with no credits to her name.
View Tilly Norwood’s intriguing “Take the Lead” music video below.
