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During the dawning of the mainstream Internet in the 90s, a publishing house for technology books commissioned Elke to write a yellow-page-style book for compelling content in the medical and healthcare fields. It was not a bad idea then: search engines were yet in their infancy, and people were eager to find helpful information online.

Of course, this lasted only for an Internet minute. This new technology was not just complementing what was already there; it was turning everything on its head. Consequently, not only yellow pages for the web became obsolete, but also pretty much everything else that this publisher did.

The current AI discussion reminds me of that episode. Some people believe they can harness this technology to do the same thing they have been doing all the time, just faster and with less effort. Why would you write press releases yourself if ChatGPT can do this better and quicker than you? Why torture yourself and create engaging content on social media if AI can do this so much more efficiently?

This may sound good news for artists, particularly those not enjoying the self-promoting game. The problem is: If everybody uses the same tools, how can you convey uniqueness and authenticity? And if those win who can craft the best prompts for the AI, then we are effectively back to square one.

In any case, AI will not stop here as a copywriting assistant. Once the thought has sunk in that any narrative can be created by a machine in text, image, and sound with sufficient quality - everything is possible, and the sky’s the limit! Add VR technology to it, and we are indeed on the way into The Matrix.

This does not have to be necessarily dystopian. Nobody can predict the future, and we have to wait and see where this all leads us. But along the way, we can make decisions. Especially in art, we can value the human element over the efficiency that a machine can provide.

Here at glamglare, we will not give in and continue listening to music, picking our favorite songs, and writing our copy by hand (full disclosure: we use Grammarly for fixing typos and grammatical errors). So please stay with us and listen to this week’s seven Song Picks of the Day. Songs we came to love because… read on:

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Song Pick of the Day

Listen to/watch all seven songs on YouTube. Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube and Spotify for the 50 latest Song Picks of the Day.

We don’t do much straightforward rock on glamglare, but sometimes a song like “Save the One” is like a fresh breeze. It is “about holding on to those you love the most, letting go of the past and just living for the moment,” the Jacksonville-based band Fortune Child says. Then, the Italian indie-rock band Codice Ego provides the perfect segue to more familiar glamglare territory: Their song “Errors and Repairs” is about not giving up and features melodic guitars and female vocals.

Icelandic musician Ásgeir teamed up with French singer/songwriter Clou for a beautiful bi-lingual pop song, “Dans nos rêves.” For Clou, it was indeed a dream project: “As it’s my first international collaboration, it’s also a project dear to my heart. It is also a reminder that music has no border,” she says.

Val Olson, aka Deadbeat Girl, feels confined by “These Walls” in Florida. “I moved to New York to study, hoping that would be somewhere I could spread my wings and be myself,” she explains about a song that perfectly hits the sweet spot between singer/songwriter and pop. Australian singer/songwriter Alex Lahey picks up on the same sentiment in her new super-catchy track “They Wouldn’t Let Me In,” about being excluded as a queer teenager in high school. She also made a fun video for the song:

Ålesund is the project of Bristol-based British-Norwegian artist Alba Torriset. Her new song, “Never Enough,” is a soaring pop music piece about crossing the line between pleasure and pain. The NYC indie rockers Blanket Approval close out this week’s Song Picks with “Two Broken Halves” about “the sinister allure of regressing back into your old self.”

New Albums On Our Turntables

This week, our four albums are all debuts by female solo artists, albeit in very different genres. Highly anticipated, Blondshell released her self-titled record, and we’re excited to see that good indie rock is still very much alive. Next, the Portuguese/Canadian singer/songwriter Nico Paulo's self-titled album shines with nostalgia-evoking indie folk. A complete change of pace is On The Wing by NYC musician Helly Manson aka foil: her music reminds us how innovative experimental, electronic pop still can be. Finally, Ollella is a singer/songwriter from Seattle who explores the boundaries of indie folk on her album Back Back Back.

Nine Photos: Williamsburg Waterfront

We were certainly not pioneers when we moved to Williamsburg in 2010, but the hipster vibe was still very much intact in this neighborhood. However, nowadays, you have to look hard to see much more than a stopover between bachelordom and suburbia for affluent young families. But it is pretty there, and hanging at the waterfront with gorgeous Manhattan views is one of our favorite weekend pastimes. So enjoy our nine photos from the Williamsburg Waterfront over the years.