Hallwood Media Bets $3M on AI Artist Xania Monet: Kehlani Sounds the Alarm

The public reaction is divided. Some fans are fascinated by the idea of an AI artist breaking through, calling it the next frontier of music. Others side with Kehlani, warning that the industry is sacrificing soul for scale. One fan wrote, “Labels will not pay real artists living wages, but they will cut a check to an algorithm. That is insane.” Another countered, “Art is always evolving. This is no different than autotune or drum machines. The human hand is still in it.”

 

At the same time, the numbers suggest that listeners are connecting with Monet’s music regardless of how it was created. Her track “How Was I Supposed to Know” has become one of her standout songs, climbing to No. 39 on TikTok’s Top 50 chart with more than 80.4 thousand posts using the sound. She is also charting on Billboard, reaching No. 3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart. Across streaming platforms, Monet’s catalog has already generated nearly 9.8 million U.S. on-demand streams, with more than 5.4 million streams in a single week. Listeners seem to be embracing the themes in her writing, finding the songs relatable and emotionally resonant even when delivered through an AI voice.

 

This is the tension at the heart of the debate. On one side are artists and creators who see AI as the antithesis of art, a threat to human creativity and to the livelihoods of working musicians. On the other side are consumers who seem less concerned about how the music is made and more focused on how it makes them feel.

 

Kehlani later took to her Instagram stories and posted:

 

“1. I’m genuinely sad for people who are trying to come up and their space is being taken up by a computer program.

2. People saying, ‘Damn I don’t care she’s so relatable,’ IT, not she, is taking all of the data it’s collected on us and what we want, and is tailoring to us. even down to the voice.

3. People saying, ‘Well the creator is a poet who can’t sing but wanted to make her ideas come to life,’ maybe she should write a poetry book. I love to support a good poet. I cannot paint. So, I’m not going to create Al paintings and sell them, taking up space from up and coming painters. This is the antithesis of art. Just because you can don’t mean you should. Art is not a money grab. Music means something significant to culture, to humanity, to people. Me, personally, I’m going to value it that way for the rest of my life.”

 

Kehlani’s pushback could mark a turning point. Artists may begin demanding regulations, transparency, and protections against being edged out by synthetic competition. Lawmakers are already scrambling to define how AI fits into copyright, royalties, and intellectual property.

 

In July, Senator Josh Hawley stated at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, “AI companies are robbing the American people blind while leaving artists, writers, and other creators with zero recourse. It’s time for Congress to give the American worker their day in court to protect their personal data and creative works."