Hive Unveils Korea's First Music Track Incorporating AI Technology

Midnat Debut Project Unveiled
First Digital Single "Masquerade" Released on 15th
Applied Multilingual Proofreading and Voice Designing

Music and artificial intelligence (AI) technology have come together. The first AI-integrated music track in Korea has been created through HYBE's ‘MIDNATT’ debut project.

Shin Young-jae, CEO of Big Hit Music (Photo by HYBE)

On the 15th, HYBE held a press conference for ‘MIDNATT Digital Single Masquerade’ at CGV in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Through this event, they unveiled the digital single ‘Masquerade’ and its music video by MIDNATT. This is the industry’s first AI project, previously known as ‘Project L.’ It was produced with the goal of realizing music and content without limits to imagination through the fusion of music and technology.

MIDNATT, which means midnight in Swedish, is another persona of Lee Hyun, an artist under Big Hit Music well known for his activities with the group 8eight. The AI technology of the audio company ‘Supertone,’ acquired earlier this year, was applied to Masquerade. First, using Supertone’s multilingual pronunciation correction technology, the song was produced in six languages (Korean, English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese). This technology corrects the pronunciation of data where the artist sings in foreign languages, enabling natural foreign language expression.

Additionally, ‘voice designing technology’ was applied. The female voice heard in the middle of the Masquerade track is the result of this technology. A female vocal tone fitting the music concept and sound was created and synthesized into the sections sung by the artist, undergoing an optimization process. The artist was able to use the technology as an auxiliary tool to expand musical expression into various categories and enhance the experience they want to offer fans.

Technology from the video content solution company Giantstep was also applied to the video. The music video was produced using an extended reality system. Except for the forest location scenes, the entire video was created based on the extended reality system. Furthermore, during the music video production process, a previsualization technology was introduced that allows real-time confirmation of virtual scenes synthesized with the extended reality system on set, significantly improving content production efficiency.

Shin Young-jae, CEO of Big Hit Music, said, “We hope this project will serve as a catalyst for new changes in the music industry,” adding, “Artists and creators have gained support to realize the messages they want to convey in music and content without limits to their imagination, and we hope fans can enjoy music and content with greater immersion.” He explained, “This virtuous cycle is expected to ultimately lead to better development of music and content, expand the influence of the K-pop industry, and connect to the evolution of the music industry.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.