Composer A R Rahman has voiced his concerns over the recent trend of song remixes and the emerging use of artificial intelligence (AI) in music. In an interview with The Week, Rahman, a staunch advocate for creative integrity, spoke against reimagining songs for commercial gain, particularly when tracks are less than a decade old.

“You can’t take a song from a movie and use it in another six years later, claiming to reimagine it,” Rahman said, asserting that such adaptations might suit social media but should not be mainstream without proper permissions.

Rahman has seen several of his songs remade and remixed in recent times, the most prominent of which was Humma Humma (from the 1995 film Bombay), which was reimagined as The Humma Song by composer Tanishk Bagchi and rapper Badshah in OK Jaanu (2017). Ironically, Rahman composed the score for OK Jaanu but was not involved in the remixing of his song.

Beyond remixes, the composer is even more concerned about AI, calling it “an even bigger evil” in the music industry. He noted that AI could lead to ethical challenges and job losses by allowing creators to replicate a composer’s style without giving due credit. “We need to bell this cat because it could lead to major ethical issues. People could lose jobs,” he warned.