AI Generated Artist Xania Monet Takes on the Billboard
By Olivia Woloz
In August of 2025, A new artist fled the charts. The only catch is: she’s not real. Xania Monet is an AI-generated singer created by 31-year-old Telisha “Nikki” Jones. Jones is a songwriter herself, and all of which Monet sings are real lyrics from Jones’s own pen and paper. In an interview on CBS News with Gayle King, Jones speaks about her experience with the creation of Xania and the process by which her sound is created. “I just feel like AI … it’s the new era that we’re in. And I look at it as a tool, as an instrument, and utilize it,” she tells King. Her process consists of entering her poems and lyrics into an AI song-generator and entering prompts such as the style of music, the background instruments, and the sound of the voice in general. From there, the song is generated from a click of a button, seemingly straight to the charts.
This successful creation not only made it to the charts but also secured Jones with a multi-million dollar record deal.Hallwood Records, a record label focused on managing producers and songwriters, offered this deal to Jones after Xania’s boom in the charts. Danny Jacobson, the head of A&R at Hallwood Records, mentioned on behalf of Jones that, “AI is breaking down barriers around age, image, and access, giving creators who might not have had a traditional path into the industry the chance to bring their stories and ideas to life while connecting directly with listeners.” This correlates closely to Jones’ stance on AI as an up-and-coming medium for artists and songwriters.
Although there have been a lot of positive results from the creation of Xania Monet, she and Jones have also experienced some backlash. In a TikTok video posted by Grammy-nominee Kehlani, she says, “nobody will be able to justify AI to me” and “I don’t respect it.” Jones’ response was mature and unbothered as she understood where Kehlani was coming from and would still listen to her music while continuing her work in the AI music industry. Since Kehlani also releases R&B music and similar styles to Jones, it can be inferred that there is some competition involved, especially for the top R&B hits. However, her comments seem to have very little negative effect on Jones’ artistry.
AI is a rapidly growing system of development, whether in technological, rhetorical, or musical fields. Jones’ creation of Xania Monet seems to have been, “the first AI-powered artist to debut on a Billboard airplay chart, but she likely won’t be the last,” according to a CNN headline about the artist(s). Generative music in AI has recently taken off and will only get more advanced. In Jones’ case, creativity is still present as the lyrics are purely hers; however, what might happen when that sense of originality is erased? Could a fully AI-generated song get to the top of the Billboard? Only time will tell.
