SHINEDOWN's BRENT SMITH: 'I Haven't Heard A Song Created By A.I. That's Made The Hair On The Back Of My Neck Stand Up'

In a new interview with Popdust, SHINEDOWN singer Brent Smith weighed in on a debate about people using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) music generator as a tool to create melodies, harmonies and rhymes based on artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and machine learning (ML) models. Brent said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The interesting thing about A.I. is you have to look at exactly what it stands for: artificial intelligence. One of the things about A.I. is that it’s learning off of servers from inundated information that ultimately was created by a living human being. So every bit of knowledge it has, it’s pulling from what somebody already documented. So that’s an interesting thought process.

“When it comes to the health care community and it comes to A.I. being used to figure out how to cure diseases or how to fundamentally create treatments for the betterment of human beings and their physical health, that’s a different animal. So, when you’re looking at that, and it’s hard because people have a process of going, ‘Okay, well, when is the line when you’re creating art and a machine is creating art or a computer is creating art and you’re giving that computer….’ Who owns the rights to that? And that’s where people get a little nervous to talk about this, but the reality, how I look at A.I. as far as for the arts, and when I take a step back and look at it with a very wide lens, I think that human beings are connected to each other.”

Smith continued: “Music is a very powerful part of our existence. There’s a great quote by a philosopher in the 1800s, and the quote was, ‘Without music, life would be a mistake.’ It was actually said by Friedrich Nietzsche, which is probably one of the most profound quotes ever, ’cause we are connected to sound, we are connected to hearing a human voice or the pattern of a chord progression and how it lifts and how it like makes the hair on your arm stand up. There’s a very real thing that’s happening there. I haven’t heard a song created by A.I. that’s made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“When you think about books like ‘1984’ and you think about ‘Ender’s Game’ and you think about ‘Terminator’ — we made movies about artificial intelligence, ‘I, Robot’, and it did not turn out very well. So it is weird to kind of see like this ideology of these robots actually becoming a real thing. And I will tell people, ‘Go watch ‘Terminator’ and tell me how you feel afterwards.'”

SHINEDOWN released two singles, “Three Six Five” and “Dance, Kid, Dance”, on January 24 via Atlantic Records.

Last month, Brent addressed the fact that “Three Six Five” and “Dance, Kid, Dance” are musically completely different from each other, telling Audacy Check In: “I think it definitely had a bit more tempo than maybe the last song that people were familiar with on maybe the more mainstream-leaning, pop-leaning-type songs. So we kind of bumped up the BPMs a little bit on that. And ‘Dance, Kid, Dance’, we just went to the wall with that.”

He continued: “It’s interesting. I had a friend of mine the other day say to me, ‘Are you a rock band? Are you a metal band? Are you an alternative band? Are you a pop [band]? What are you?’ And I’m, like, ‘We’re just SHINEDOWN.’ We play in a big sandbox.

“We’ve always been a genre-bending band because we’re inspired by a lot of different styles and we’re constantly evolving,” Brent said. “So we felt like the right move, with the first new material that people would hear from us, that we gave them kind of two sides of us.”

Elaborating on SHINEDOWN‘s need to explore a variety of different styles on each album, Brent said: “I think along the way, people started to get pigeonholed or they started using boxes or ‘stay in your lane’ or ‘you’re only this genre’.

“When you expand your palette sonically or what have you, you’re just trying to reach as much of the audience as you can. Some days you feel like you wanna throw down and rock, some days you’re a little bit more emotional. But that’s the beauty of music, man. It constantly evolves. And the only thing that we’ve ever done in this band is anybody from anywhere at any time, we wanted them to be able to know that SHINEDOWN has a lot of peaks and valleys, kind of like a rollercoaster ride. But there’s something for everyone.”

The two new singles embody the many multifaceted talents of the SHINEDOWN: One part rock ‘n’ roll dynamism and one part incredible songwriting and passion. “Dance, Kid, Dance” hits hard right out of the gate with incredibly heavy guitars and a tempo that just doesn’t quit. It’s part social commentary and part “don’t overthink it, let’s just rock out and LET’S DANCE!” The song pushes boundaries and is a reminder of why SHINEDOWN hold the record for the most No. 1 songs at Active Rock Radio of all time with “Dance, Kid, Dance”.

“Three Six Five” is an example of the band’s ability to tackle the tough subjects through impeccable songwriting. Anyone who has ever experienced loss knows that every day we draw breath is an opportunity to live out loud — to live for those we have lost. At its core, “Three Six Five” is a reminder to stop wasting time and focus on the moments we have right now and treasure time with the ones you love the most. The song honors the people in our lives who aren’t with us anymore. It reminds us to stop taking time for granted, because it’s not promised. Take chances, be bold, and don’t sweat the small stuff, because as the song says: a lot can happen in a year. “Even though I said all the things that mattered most, while I held on tight to the end of the rope, I could keep you close, but I couldn’t keep you here, a lot can happen in a year.”

Smith and SHINEDOWN bassist and producer Bass co-wrote “Three Six Five”, and “Dance, Kid, Dance” was co-written by Smith, Bass and Dave Bassett. The songs were produced by Bass at his own Big Animal Studio in Charleston, South Carolina.

When “Three Six Five” and “Dance, Kid, Dance” were first released, Smith said: “We needed to approach everything different this time… The last two albums were both conceptual so it was important for us to really ask ourselves creatively where do we want to go. The answer to that was we want to go everywhere so there was no specific direction. We just started writing, and let the new songs guide us. I also think we stopped saying ‘why?’ and started saying ‘why not?'”

In celebration of the new songs for 2025, the “Dance, Kid, Dance” tour kicks off on April 25 in Des Moines, Iowa and will be one of the band’s largest U.S. tours ever. The 35-date run will hit some of the country’s most iconic venues, including New York’s Madison Square Garden (July 20),Boston’s TD Garden (July 19) and Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena (May 10) and more! Joining them on the tour are BEARTOOTH and BUSH (on select dates),as well as Morgan Wade on all shows.

For the tour SHINEDOWN has teamed up with Musicians On Call (MOC) and will be donating $1 for every ticket sold for the tour. As the nation’s leading provider of live music in hospitals, Musicians On Call has delivered the healing power of music to patients, families and caregivers in healthcare environments for 25 years. More than one million people across all 50 states have experienced the joys of live music in the hospital setting through MOC‘s bedside, virtual and streaming programs. MOC Volunteers perform live for children and adults facing any health challenge, including Veterans recovering in VA facilities, family members supporting loved ones in need and healthcare workers caring for patients. The collaboration is just one of the many charities SHINEDOWN supports as they frequently give back to organizations in need.

SHINEDOWN continues to demonstrate that they are one of the most forward-thinking powerhouses in music, forever pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a modern-day rock band. The tour and new music not only kick off a new era for SHINEDOWN but continues to celebrate the momentous acclaim the band received from their juggernaut song “A Symptom Of Being Human” off their seventh studio album “Planet Zero” (Atlantic Records). The song, which has reached over 100 million streams and counting, crossed over not only to Alternative but Top 40 radio and resonated with fans across the globe for the unifying message of its lyrics: that it is our human connections that matter the most.