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Summary
Core Theme
The core theme is the evolution of authenticity in the music industry, contrasting the severe backlash against Milli Vanilli for using ghost singers with the modern acceptance of similar practices, suggesting a broader cultural shift towards valuing celebrity and spectacle over genuine artistic contribution.
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having to give back their Grammy.
[music] It's the only time that has
happened in music history.
>> And the best new artist is Millie Vanilli.
Vanilli.
>> In the late 1980s, Millie Vanilli was
the band everyone was talking about.
>> It's Millie Vanill. Millie Vanill.
>> Millie Vanill.
>> MILLIE VANILL.
>> MILLIE VANILL.
>> WE'RE GOING to a Millie Vanilli concert.
But on July 21st, 1989, Millie Vanilli
got caught lip-syncing on live television.
television.
>> More embarrassment today for the pop
singing group Millie Vanilli.
>> A lot of singers do that on stage. And
normally it wouldn't be a big deal. But
this time it was different because
Millie Vanilli wasn't lip-syncing to
their own voices. They were just two
dancers hired to lip-sync to tracks
recorded by professional singers.
And now you probably heard the story
before, but here's the thing nobody is
talking about. Some of today's biggest
music stars are still doing exactly what
Millie Manili did. They use ghost
singers to record their tracks and
pretend it's their own songs. So, we dug
deep into this story and what we found
was just shocking. Some of the most
famous names in pop music are faking it
and yet nobody seems to care anymore,
>> which is very common in the music industry.
industry.
>> Let me tell you a story. in in the end
of 87. He has an idea and I think maybe
>> this is Frank Faren, a German producer
who wanted to break into the American
market in the late8s and he knew exactly
what would sell. Young, attractive
performers who could put on a show on stage.
stage.
So he found two good-looking
professional dancers, Rob Pilotis and
Fabric Morbin. They said, "We're working
on a project and we're [music] thinking
that you could be good for it if we were
interested." Hell yeah, we were
interested. They had the moves, the
look, the stage presence, everything
you'd want from a proper pop star. There
was only one tiny problem. They couldn't
sing. So Frank came up with what he
thought was a genius idea.
>> One click in my mind
and the crazy idea was was born.
What if he hired professional singers to
record the vocals and Rob and Fab? Well,
they could just pretend to sing.
>> Rob turns to me saying, "They don't want
us to sing. They want us to lip sync the
song." I'm like, "What?"
>> Since I'm an actor, an entertainer, he
needed an act who poses as a singer. You
know, he don't want us to sing. He never
tried our vocals.
>> He brought in established session
singers Charles Shaw, John Davies, and
Brad Howell. These were professionals
who would nail every note, hit every
harmony perfectly, but they didn't quite
have that look that Frank Faren was
looking for. So Faren made a deal with
them. The session singers would get paid
well, but stay anonymous. Robin Fab will
become the faces. Let's just stay on
Frank for a second because this is
important. Uh Frank Faren is kind of a
genius and I think you might have heard
of him because he had already done
something similar earlier
in Europe [music] in the 70s and 80s
with a band called Bonnie M. And with
Bonnie M, it was actually Fion himself
who sang on Bunny M's original
recordings, not Bobby Farrell, the front
man everyone saw performing. It was a
huge, huge success. [music] You probably
heard of Bonnie M yourself. So when
Frank set out to conquer America, he
knew the formula would work. Millie
Vanilli released Girl You Know It's True
and Blame It on the Rain. The songs
became massive hits for 2 years. It
worked [music] perfectly.
>> 7 million albums sold, this year's
Grammy for the best new artists.
>> There are a lot of artists outside in
the world who can achieve the same award
that we achieve today. And it's an award
for all artists in the world. Thank you
very much.
Frank Faren was finally cracking the
American market
until that one technical error on July
21st, 1989. [cheering]
[cheering]
>> The vocals that were being cued from the
emulator started repeating [music]
>> 80,000 people.
You know, I couldn't repeat it 15 times.
It got obvious. So I stopped. I
>> Billy Vanilli [music] turns out to be a
>> The aftermath was chaos. People were
confused, suspicious, and demanding answers.
answers.
A California woman [music] who bought
the album for her son is suing to get a refund.
refund.
>> For months, they tried to stick to the story.
story.
>> You [music and singing] want to get it
everything.
>> For the last year, they've been working
on a new album on the dance steps and on
the singing.
>> But in November of 1990, Frank Faren
held a press conference and dropped the
bomb. I think it's fair we show the real singer.
singer.
>> And just like that, it was all over. For
the first time in history, a Grammy was
being revoked. But the biggest tall fell
on Rob and Fab. They weren't just
cancelled. They were vilified. Seen as
immoral human beings who had lied to
millions of fans. A lot of your fans
will be very upset by the fact that the
only way you can explain the sherade,
the fast, the fakery of the last year,
two years is money.
>> It's not. This is fake.
>> No other reason. That's the only
pressure that Fabian put on you was finance.
finance.
>> Do you live in a project? Did you live
in a project?
>> The psychological toll was immense.
>> You knew that wasn't true when you said
said
>> in order to cope with it, we got into
the alcohol and the drugs. was to numb
ourselves and to be able to like
medication, self-medicating.
>> There was nothing to believe no more for
Rob Pilates struggled with depression
and substance abuse and he died of an
overdose in 1998 at just 32 years old.
The Millivani scandal became a
cautionary tale. Everyone thought this
was an isolated case of fraud in the
music industry because in 1989 people
still believed that what they saw was
real. Authenticity in music meant
everything. And this was my perception.
Interesting story. But the music
industry evolved. They learned. And
surely this couldn't be happening today.
But as we kept digging, what we found
completely changed the way I see the
music industry today.
>> Once again, Ashley Simpson.
>> October 23rd, 2004. Saturday Night Live.
Ashley Simpson is about to perform her
second song of the evening. But then
>> All of a sudden, the wrong track starts
playing and she does that now famous
awkward dance and walks off stage. Was
this just an unfortunate incident of
lip-syncing gone wrong? Or was it
something deeper?
There's something about lip syncing that
just feels wrong. Like we hate it when
we're being lied to.
>> Claims that Beyonce was actually lip
syncing are now setting the internet
ablaze. When we see Beyonce sing during
the inauguration, we expect her to be
singing for real, right? And when we
find out she's not, we feel betrayed.
>> I'm very proud of my my performance.
>> And it's the same feeling that I have
every time I hear about identity thefts.
>> One in 10 American children is the
victim of identity theft.
>> I just recently learned that there are
companies called data brokers. And what
they do is that they scrape your
personal information. Everything from
your phone number to your email address
to your home address even and then sell
it online to scammers and fraudsters.
>> There was somebody out there with my
information and pretending to be me.
>> It is almost impossible to stop these
data brokers unless you use Incogn.
Incogn is a service that automatically
contacts data brokers on your behalf and
gets them to delete your data. And just
imagine for a second how much time and
effort it would take for you if you had
to do it all by yourself. But with incogn,
incogn,
add your basic info and then they start
reaching out for you. And within days,
those gnarly data brokers by law have to
delete all your information. This is now
one of the biggest forms of organized
crime we have. In the US alone, 22% of
people report being victims of identity
theft at least [music] once in their
life. So if you value privacy, I think
you should test incogn. And you can do
that now by using my link incogn.com/asa
park for 60% off on an annual incogn
plan. And don't wait for your data to be
used against you. Take control and stay
safe. Now talking about scammers, let's
get back to the greatest scam in the
music industry.
>> I froze when I like started doing this
and I was like, "Okay, I think I've done
the ho down long enough. Maybe I should
walk off."
>> Ashley Simpson or Beyonce weren't the
only ones lip-syncing. Artists have been
lip-syncing to their own voices for
decades. [music] The Beatles even did it
on the Ed Sullivan show. Artists did it
all the time on MTV because when you're
dancing and flipping around with crazy
choreography, it's nearly impossible to
sing live perfectly when you're on live
television. Just think about those Super
Bowl halftime shows. Hundreds of
millions of people watching. The stakes
are huge. So, most performances actually
do use a lot of lip-syncing. And a lot
of artists actually do get caught lip-syncing.
lip-syncing.
>> Crazy crazy rumors. I keep hearing about
myself like that. I can't perform
without lip-syncing. [snorts] Okay,
which is not true. See, when I appeared
on the Grammy Awards and sang Baby One
More Time. I mean, I had some backup
singers doing the harmonies, but I sang
all the lead vocals live.
>> But it was Ashley Simpson's SNL moment
that went viral. She got mocked mercilessly.
mercilessly.
Ashley Simpson went from being a rising
star to a national joke almost
overnight. She had to apologize
publicly. Well, I handled it calm, but
like when it happened, I was definitely
like crying and my dad was like, "Come
on, baby. Get yourself together."
>> Appearing on shows to explain herself,
>> but I feel so bad. My band started
playing the wrong song and I didn't know
what to do, so I thought I'd do a hoown.
>> And in the beginning, she was just
pretending that it was funny and that
she didn't care. But it didn't help. For
some reason, people just felt betrayed.
The incident followed her for years. And
unfortunately, it has wound up becoming
the defining moment of her career.
>> Doing this like I didn't know how to do
that. For me, it was the most humbling
experience of my life because [music]
the whole world thinks everything that
you just put your heart and soul into
writing is a joke.
>> Yet, even with all that backlash, the
scandal blew over relatively quickly
compared to Millie Vanilli. Within a
year, she was back performing. We all
moved on because by 2004, the music
industry had fundamentally changed.
probably best illustrated by one music
Autotune and other tuning plugins became
the number one weapon of choice for
singers. It helped them stay in key.
Some criticized it as a crutch for bad
singers, but it was also a creative
tool. The artist was still the one
singing, still performing. It was their
voice heavily processed.
>> So, the tuning is really, really fast.
So, we've heard it as a normal
performance. Now we've got the effect on.
on. [music]
[music]
>> But here's what autotune and other
easily accessible audio plugins really
changed. The power dynamic. Before these
tools, the artist was essential. You
needed someone who could actually sing.
But now producers could take on a wider
range of singers and still make them
sound good.
>> Someone singing, maybe some slight note
slightly out of tune. Our computer
program can actually change that and put
it back in tune and give you a perfect
take. After Ven,
>> the producers got more power. Artists
became more of a tool for the producers
to use rather than the other way around.
What Mel Vanilli did using completely
different voices. Surely that never
happened again in the music industry.
At least that's what we thought until we
found some shocking evidence that proved
This is Jennifer Lopez at the 2019
Grammy Awards. Multi-platinum recording
artist, global superstar, someone
[music] who's built an empire on a music
career. She's not actually singing on
many of her biggest hits.
And this isn't speculation. It's well
documented and reported within [music]
the music industry.
The problem is just that most people
don't know about it. Let's look at the
evidence. We can start with the song
Play. I am
my soul.
>> This song was originally recorded by
Christina Milan in 2000. [music]
Milan wrote it, recorded it, and it was
supposed to be her single, but the label
took Milan's vocal performance and gave
it [music] to Jennifer Lopez.
>> Producers tell me, "Oh, Tommy Matah is
coming in and he's going to listen to
some [music] music." He hears Play,
loves it, and he's like, "I want this as
her single." I recorded the original
demo. A month later, Tommy Matah gets it
for Jennifer. [music]
>> Then there's I'm Real and Ain't It
Funny. Ashanti has claimed for years
that she performed lead vocals for both
massive JLo hits, not background vocals,
[music] the lead vocals. The pattern
goes beyond just a few songs. Several
industry insiders are claiming the same
thing, that Lopez's actual vocal
contributions to her own albums are
[music] minimal. But here's what's
fascinating. It's not really a secret.
Mariah says she often sleeps just 3
hours a night. When told Lopez claimed
to get eight, Mariah [music] said,
quote, "If I had the luxury of not
actually having to sing my own songs,
I'd do that, too."
>> Music journalists have [music] reported
on it for years. The information is out
there. Yet, Jennifer Lopez continues to
be celebrated as a recording artist.
She's been the judge on American Idol
for Christ's sake.
>> I love working creatively together with
other people. So, [music] but I'd never
thought about being a judge, so this was
this was all a big surprise for me.
>> Evaluating other people's singing, she
headlines tours and festivals where
people are paying a lot of money to hear
and see her perform. And her fans, well,
many of them know.
Social media is full of discussions
about Lopez's use of ghost singers. The
information isn't hidden. And this
creates a weird situation because
Jennifer Lopez is essentially doing
exactly the same thing Milivani did,
building a career on other people's
voices. I guess the difference is just
execution and the era. Selena Gomez has
faced questions about her actual vocal
contributions. Industry insiders suggest
much of what we hear involves
significant help from uncredited
singers. The same even goes for Britney
Spears during her peak years. And these
are just the cases we know about. How
many other artists are using ghost
singers without any acknowledgement?
When Millie Vanilli was exposed, [music]
it was a scandal that destroyed careers.
But when pop stars do it today, it's
barely news. So I guess the question is
what changed? Why did Rob Pilotis and
Fab Morvin get destroyed for doing
exactly what Jennifer Lopez has built
her career on?
>> About the fans backlash, you know,
running over your records, returning them.
them.
>> Yeah, I understand. I really understand
them. I have to say I understand them.
In the late8s, fans knew Millanilly
through music videos and occasional TV
appearances. The relationship was
distant. So when the music turned out to
be fake, there was nothing else to
sustain the connection. Jennifer Lopez,
on the other hand, has over 200 million
Instagram followers. They see her
working out, her family moments, her
daily life. Her fans feel like they know
her personally.
>> Pretty. I'm saying you you're used to
seeing me kind of like the little old
lady at home and then when I get up and
start dancing you're like, "Oh, right. I
forgot she could dance."
>> And when you feel connected to someone's
personality and brand, does the
credibility of their work matter as
much. I think it's deeper than just
social media. Look at what happened in
the 2010s.
A new type of superstar emerged and
started to dominate the charts. Avichi,
Calvin Harris, David Geta, they're
producers. They don't sing on their own
songs and everybody knows it. So what
happened in the 2010s was that the
producer became the artist. The singer
became more of an accessory, the face of
the brand. But that's not all. The
average hit song today has like 10
writers and four producers. And when the
song credits look like a Marvel movie
end credit, why is the voice sacred?
People couldn't care less about who
writes or who sings. They care about the
song, the celebrity, the icon, the
personality. Authenticity became
irrelevant. And it's not just music. Our
entire culture shifted
in 1990. We believed that what we saw
was real. We believed in authenticity
because we hadn't yet learned to
question it. When the Millie Manili
scandal hit at the worst possible moment
because that [music] was the exact
moment where culture turned against
polish and perfection. Grunch was about
to explode. MTV was launching the real
world. Compare that to today where being
real can actually hurt your career.
>> This is not what I look like right now.
This filter should be illegal. Here's
the real me.
>> People on social media use filters to
make themselves [music] look completely
different than they actually are.
>> Makes me look like a better person. So,
it's like,
I don't know, sucking my face up that
way or that way, you know, like it
doesn't matter as long as there's
something there.
>> Music is tuned and quantized. [music]
advertising no longer reflects the
actual products we're buying. And I know
what some of you might be thinking. I I
have friends who tell me that why do you
care? Their argument goes something like
this. That music's core purpose is to
move people, create joy, provide
connection, and if a Selena Gomez
concert accomplishes that, does it
really matter if she's lip-syncing to
someone else's voice? We've never had a
problem with this in other entertainment
industries. In Hollywood musicals,
actors have lip sync to professional
>> Nobody considered this deceptive,
>> but that wasn't ever particularly talked
about because they didn't Hollywood
didn't want to destroy the illusion.
>> And now we have deep fakes, AI content,
and social media manipulation.
Why is music the one area where
authenticity should still matter? Maybe
getting shocked and upset about ghost
singers is like being shocked that Marll
use CGI. Of course they do. Maybe I have
to look at it more as I look at
professional wrestling. Like I know it's
fake, but I love the spectacle anyway.
But I just can't accept that. And here's why.
>> This is what I'm talking about when I'm
talking about authenticity. When I hear
Johnny Cash, I know it's him. There's
just something in his voice that cannot
be faked. The gravel, the pain, the
lived experience. Adele, Freddy Mercury,
Kurt Cobain, these voices are
fingerprints. So when I see Jennifer
Lopez on stage and hear someone else's
voice, what am I actually experiencing?
When I listen to Millanilly, who am I
really connecting with?
>> The promise of music has always been
simple. This person singing these words.
Sharing their voice with you. And when
that basic contract gets broken, when
the person you see isn't the person you
hear, we lose something that goes way
deeper than just entertainment. But
here's what really bothers me. We've
normalized this loss of trust. We live
in a world where models don't look like
their photos. Where influencers present
lives that don't exist. Where
politicians sell visions that bear no
resemblance to reality. Where everything
is filtered, processed, optimized for
consumption. And I can speak for myself.
Somewhere along the way, I just stopped
fighting back. I accepted that
authenticity is old-fashioned, naive,
unrealistic. in the middle of a nearly
scandal happened at a moment in time
when we still believe things could be
real and should be real when discovering
that something was fake actually
mattered. But that innocence is lost.
We've become so accustomed to being lied
to that we stopped expecting [music] the
truth. Millie Vanilly didn't just expose
a scandal in the music industry. They
exposed a turning point in our culture.
The moment when we decided that feeling
real was good enough, even when it
wasn't real at all.
Oh, one more thing before I let you go.
We did a video about Aussie Osborne
recently, and we're really, really proud
of it. And for some reason, we feel like
it hasn't gotten the attention it
deserves. If you want to watch it, it's
here. And if you like this video, I
promise you, you will love that one. And
check out the incognite through the link
in the description, incogn.com/asapark.
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