CULTURE CURRENT-Chase & Status on the upside of AI for music

By Sam Tabahriti

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Chase & Status have spent more than two decades chasing the next sound, amassing more than 2 billion streams on Spotify along the way. Their latest album, released earlier this month, “Generic Everything,” is driven by a different concern: the fear that technology is making culture more uniform.

The British electronic music duo, Saul Milton (known as Chase) and Will Kennard (Status), say the record emerged from conversations about artificial intelligence, social media and the growing pressure for artists to follow established formulas rather than forge their own path. Still, they reject the idea that AI poses an existential threat to creativity.

Speaking to Reuters in London, the pair discuss originality, technological change and why they believe individuality will become more valuable in an age of algorithms.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Your new album is called “Generic Everything.” It's a provocative title for a duo that's spent two decades building a distinctive sound. What does it mean?

Kennard: It sounds like an angry statement, but it wasn't really meant that way. When we were making the record, we found the rate of change in technology, the impact of social media and the fast-changing pace of AI really overwhelming and confusing. We spoke to other artists and friends who felt the same.

The danger of that was that our own work started to sound a bit lazy and a bit generic. We could see that in other people's work as well. It felt like creativity was being squeezed into a singular space.

"Generic Everything" was a phrase we wrote on a whiteboard in the studio. It was a reminder to think differently and not always take the easy route. It became a personal mission to avoid the pitfalls of just sounding like everything else.

Which track unlocked the album for you? Was there one song that made everything else make sense?

Milton: I think it was less a single track and more a movement away from the record we originally thought we were making. During the process, the sound palette we were working with changed quite dramatically. We moved away from one idea and into a different place.

Kennard: "Disgruntled" was probably the moment we realised what we wanted the record to be. It had this guitar-led, punky, live feel that was very different from where we'd been before.

That gave us the confidence to push further in that direction with tracks like "Tension".

If someone from outside Britain listened to “Generic Everything,” what would they understand about Britain in 2026?

Milton: All of our albums are a kaleidoscope into what's happening in British culture at that time.

We love championing British music and we're very proud of being British. We believe Britain has the most exciting, cutting-edge, forward-thinking, future-sounding music of all time. We create genres, we create scenes, we create movements, and the world follows.

What drum and bass is about, and what hopefully our albums represent too, is unity. It's about all colours, creeds, races and religions coming together under one roof, having a good time and escaping the stresses of life.

A lot of people worry that AI will replace artists. You don’t seem particularly worried about AI.

Milton: The fear now, if there is a fear, is the complacency that it enables.

Suddenly you can put in a prompt, type a few words and it spits something out. Whether it's good or not is another question, but the ease of it can squash creativity. Every change feels terrifying at the time. We went from vinyl and CDs to downloads, and from downloads to streaming. Every stage felt like the end of the world and every time people adapted.

When we started, everything was samplers, synths and mixing desks. Then suddenly everything became digital. A lot of music didn't sound great at first because the technology was changing.

Fast-forward 20 years and people have figured out how to make incredible-sounding records. I think we're still at the beginning of that process with AI.

What can't AI replicate?

Milton: Original ideas. Fundamentally, it's recycling ideas. It can make things polished, but it can't really think differently. Style is individuality.

Kennard: The aim of the game now is to break out of that box and do something different and original. This album is partly a rebellion against our own generic selves. We could have made another record that sounded like our previous records, but that wouldn't have been progression.

If AI becomes more powerful, what becomes the most valuable quality for an artist?

Milton: Conviction.

If you're a musician or producer and you're worried that AI is going to overtake your music, then work harder. Put more into the craft. Come at it from a different angle. If everyone's going left, go right.

What do you hope people take away from Generic Everything?

Milton: I hope people see it as an honest reflection of where Will and I are right now.

We deliberately tried not to repeat ourselves. We didn't want to make another record that simply sounded like previous Chase & Status albums. The whole point was to challenge ourselves and avoid taking the easy route.

I hope people listen to it from start to finish because that's becoming increasingly rare. Albums are still important to us. We spend a lot of time thinking about the order of the tracks and the journey they take you on.

More than anything, I hope people can hear that we're trying new things. It isn't about chasing trends or following what's popular. It's about pushing ourselves creatively and seeing where that takes us.

The perspectives expressed in Culture Current are the subject’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Reuters News.