The rise of AI voice cloning has lead to many music parodies of celebrities and fictional characters, but few match the production quality of the an anonymous YouTuber known only as Glorb. Using the voices from the cast of SpongeBob SquarePants, he creates explicit drill raps reimagining the rivalry between Mr. Krabs and Plankton as a deadly gang war between rival drug-dealers. The raps are accompanied by CGI animations of SpongeBob and friends performing drive-by shootings, drinking lean and bragging about their sex lives. To say these parodies aren’t for kids is a massive understatement.
The intrigue surrounding Glorb’s identity has only fueled the project’s popularity, with some speculating that the creator might be a seasoned professional in the music industry. While AI is used to disguise the creator’s voice, everything else is crafted by hand, and the high production quality and sophisticated wordplay of the lyrics suggest a level of expertise beyond that of an amateur enthusiast.
Parodies like these have also stoked controversies through their unauthorized use copyrighted characters and actors’ voices. Featuring icons of children’s entertainment in adult situations has been a cornerstone of internet culture for decades, but the ability of AI to perfectly mimic voices and art style could harm a brand’s public perseption and threaten the careers of artists and actors.
However, AI arguably allows fans to reclaim characters from their childhood and reinterpret them in a way that better resonates with them as adults. Glorb’s parodies aren’t just entertaining. The dissonance between the family-friendly characters and their ultra-violent surrounds causes us to pause and reflect on the real people who deal with this kind of violence in real life. We’d like to imagine that our world is as idyllic as SpongeBob’s lighthearted adventures, but for many people, that is far from the case.
As the world of AI and digital art continues to evolve, Glorb’s project stands as a harbinger of a future where AI turns everyone into a creator and pop culture is controlled by the masses, for better or worse. One thing’s for sure: it’s gonna be weird.
