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![[WATCH] NAO's AI-Driven "Orbit" Video](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671493886427-638YNG55J8SUUQWALY1S/image-asset.jpeg)
[WATCH] NAO's AI-Driven "Orbit" Video
photo credit: Jay Carroll
…..did someone say, “NAO made an AI-driven music video”???
This is so super fun and cute you have to give it a try for yourself!
Playing off the theme of her sophomore album, Saturn, which dropped last year, soul singer NAO teamed up with the likes of Microsoft for a gorgeous interactive piece for “Orbit”. Given the number of variables that go into generating the dazzling music video, everyone is guaranteed a completely unique viewing experience.
To see how dope this is firsthand, all you have to do is head to the Orbit site and plug in your birthday. The AI then generates a zodiac-filled night sky in which NAO and a dancer move. From there you’re able to customize the colors of the sky, stars, and the dancers bodies. The AI also picks up the different constellations in the dancer’s bodies as well as the fan’s own astrological sign. This Aries bitch is ALL ABOUT FLAUNTING MY STARRY SHIT so I could just play with the colors and watch NAO and the dancer do their lil motion capture all day long.
If you want to flaunt a sampling of your starry creation, there’s an option to share to Facebook and Twitter, as well as download a square or vertical video should you want to post on Instagram as well. As you’ll see below, mine shows NAO posing in an Aries stance along with a plot of Saturn’s return.
0 Likes, 0 Comments - Some Kind Of Awesome (@somekindofawesome) on Instagram: "Soooo the interactive video for "Orbit" that @this_nao made with @microsoft is super fun. You can..."
You know I love a nerd moment so here is the official explanation of how the video was made:
“The process for the music video began at Microsoft’s volumetric capture studio in San Francisco, where cameras captured NAO and a dancer performing choreography to “Orbit” that transformed their bodies into point clouds of data. The Microsoft Azure Custom Vision Service was then trained to identify constellations within their movements, resulting in a truly customized experience that allows fans to connect emotionally with NAO’s own personal story.”
Go give it a try for yourself! Bonus points if you show me your videos!
PS YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO! Omg NAO is so precious and excited about leveraging this kind of technology to tell her story. I just wanna put her in my hoodie pocket and keep her safe foreverrrrrrrr.
![[SONG OF THE DAY] NAO - "Drive & Disconnect"](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671498375500-L4ME3QR29D7TH0RO0MZ6/image-asset.jpeg)
[SONG OF THE DAY] NAO - "Drive & Disconnect"
After recently dropping songs like “Another Lifetime”, Mura Masa collab “Complicated”, and “Make It Out Alive” (featuring SiR), London songstress NAO has unveiled the name of her upcoming sophomore album, Saturn, along with with a new track, “Drive And Disconnect”.
Per Dork, NAO released a statement (that clearly I didn’t get lol) with an explanation behind the name of the album,
“My friends kept telling me about the term ‘Saturn Returns’. It’s this idea that Saturn takes 29 years to orbit from when you’re born and it is the planet of blessings and growth. So by the time you’re around 29, between 27 and 32, something big happens in your life. It’s like waking up and coming of age, like: ‘I’ve been going through my twenties and what have I been doing in this relationship?’ What have I been doing in this job?’ You start to rethink everything - old stuff that your parents taught you or ideas that you believed in. It’s like a complete shedding of skin and it can be painful.”
Following Saturn dropping on October 26th, NAO will be hitting the road in North America starting in January alongside Xavier Omär. Tickets are available now over on her website.
tickets available over on her website.
[2016 Recap] A Few Of My Favorite Things
bless Topsters for assembling this graphic infinitely easier than prior years
Surpriiiiseee!! I'm going to do my year end wrap up differently than most of the ones I've seen. Mostly because I have so many to share, but mostly because I like to let the music do the talking and help you get better connected to the artists themselves. Instead of recaps of each record, I'm going to point you to my favorite tracks so if any of these are new to your ears you'll have the best starting point I can give you.
Personal Observations for 2016
This was a weird year for me in terms of listening/discovery habits. Instead of fighting against music consumption trends, I decided to play along. I dove head first into my Discover Weekly playlist. I even followed some of my friends' in order to see what I would find and set up an IFTTT recipe to archive everything recommended to me so I could go back and reference it later if I wanted. I barely touched my SKOA inbox, which probably upset a lot of publicists. Anyway, according to Last.FM's data (since Spotify never ended up sending me mine), I listened to 1,919 new artists this year, which is ABSOLUTELY INSANE. But really when you think about how much music Discover Weekly puts in front of you, it's really less than what everyone had the potential to check out (which is 1,560 if you figure we get 30 new tracks a week for a year). I am in the 98th percentile in music listening per Last.FM (meaning I listen to more music than 98% of people who still scrobble to Last.FM) and I found myself panicky and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music that Spotify thinks I can get through on TOP of the music I already love and want to enjoy, or the random rabbit holes I end up falling into that typically bring me great new baby bands. I guess most people approach Discover Weekly differently than I do, letting artists come and go as they please, but knowing the transformative power that music possesses, I'm always wary of passing on an opportunity to be affected and share those experiences with others.
It's crazy to think that 20% of what stuck with me this year was randomly generated by The Algorithm and not delivered to me by humans. I almost said that the human delivery was through cosmic forces, but really, if music finds its way to your ears/hearts by friend or by Algorithm, both are cosmic in a way, no?
This is my struggle at present. I value the connection that happens when a humans experience music together, whether it be by recommendation or attending shows together. I worry this experience will continue to be diminished the more we silo ourselves into our algorithm-based echo chambers. I really hope I'm just out of touch and someone will point me to where this is the opposite, but I can't ignore how self-serving shows feel now every time I treat myself to a Night Out. This has been on my heart/mind too much lately to ignore it, so expect some changes to how things go down on the site (starting with making more time for this now that my new job isn't crazy busy for awhile).
What music moved you this year? Did you like some of these records but different tracks? I'd honestly love to know so please drop me a comment. Also if you want more than favorite tracks out of me for these records, feel free to bug me on Twitter I am happy to share!
