Lorde went public this week with a complaint about a Spotify feature that uses artificial intelligence to generate descriptions of songs. The Grammy-winning artist posted a screenshot on Instagram Stories showing what the platform had written about her song "Current Affairs," and the description was wrong.
The Spotify description read: "On her Ultrasound World Tour, Lorde turns Current Affairs into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage."
Lorde tagged Spotify in her post and pushed back on both the accuracy and the concept. "Hey @spotify i'm gonna go out on a limb n say we don't want this," she wrote. "Not only is this inaccurate (not the song i did that in) but reducing a song to an ai generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation imo. At least make it possible for artists to opt out please."
Spotify responded with a statement after Lorde's post circulated. "We built 'About the Song' because fans want to dig into the stories behind the music. It's still in beta," a Spotify spokesperson said. "The info comes from articles across the internet, and when something's off, we move fast to fix it, like we did here. Getting it right matters to us."
According to Rolling Stone, the feature is described by Spotify as pulling from third-party sources to surface interesting details and behind-the-scenes moments. The company said the feature is still in beta testing.
The incident is part of a broader conversation inside the music industry about AI's growing role in how music is created, marketed, and explained to listeners. Rolling Stone reported in March that many top producers and songwriters have been using AI tools in studios, though largely behind closed doors, in what the publication called the "don't ask, don't tell era of AI in music."
Lorde's complaint focused not only on the factual error but on the principle behind the feature. She said placing an AI-generated meaning directly at the point where a listener encounters a song limits the open interpretation that artists often intend. Her request for an opt-out option was explicit and public.
Spotify said it corrected the description after the issue was raised. The feature remains available on the platform.
