If you love a good scroll on TikTok, chances are you’re familiar with Haven’s track I Run. You probably won’t recognise it by name, but you definitely will by sound. It’s gone insanely viral, being featured in thousands of videos on the platform and getting millions of streams from Spotify. Now, it’s being claimed that the song is AI.
@crazyauntieann♬ I Run – HAVEN. & Kaitlin Aragon
People were calling it “song of the year”, and then, out of nowhere, it vanished from streaming platforms amid claims that the vocals weren’t human at all.
Part of the early obsession came from listeners insisting the vocals were Jorja Smith, or at least chopped-up, unreleased Jorja Smith vocals. But she quickly shut that down, confirming on social media that the voice isn’t hers.
Credit: TikTok
A video by TikToer Hayden Coh attempted to trace the song’s origin, claiming its original release had been removed and re-uploaded several times by Spotify. Hayden alleged that since no singer was credited on the song’s original upload, the vocals are AI: “If she [Jorja Smith] is not the singer, and the artist is not crediting who the singer is, then who is it? For my money, it’s AI.”
@haydencoh edit: the original song has been taken down and replaced with a version that has a real singer (i think). sorry for the awkward silence from where i previously played a snippet, tiktok wouldn’t let me replace it. The song “I Run” by Haven 100%, unequivocally has AI vocals. Mystery solved, we can all go home now. #haven #irun #ai #suno ♬ I Run – HAVEN. & Kaitlin Aragon
So, is it actually AI?
Yes! The song’s producer has confirmed the song does use AI.
The track was released by UK producer Harrison Walker under the name Haven, two other UK produces listed as collaborators. Walker has said the vocals are actually his own, just heavily manipulated through “layers of processing and filtering” until they’re basically unrecognisable.
Meanwhile, the second producer Waypoint, real name Jacob Donaghue, has confirmed AI was used, replying to a TikTok comment, where he said that it was used to “give [the] original vocal a female tone”.
The third music producer credited on the song, Matt Cahill, also posted an Instagram story where he talked about “recording vocals into his phone and then plugging it in through Suno”, an AI video generator app. He appeared to confirm this again in the caption of another post. Suno can generate entire proffesional level audio like I Run, through simple prompts like simply just speaking into it.
Since then, people have accused the song of being entirely AI-generated, and it’s now been removed from major streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music.
The song’s creator Haven uploaded a slightly confusing video filmed from behind his head, saying: “I just wanted to jump on here to show you that I am a real person”, which is funny, because absolutely no one thought he was the AI. He added that the team is “aware of the takedowns” and is trying to fix the situation.
@haven.artist yo everyone. Wanted to just jump on here to say we’re aware of the takedowns and working really hard to get the song back up for you! #irun #run #haven #speedgarage ♬ I Run – HAVEN. & Kaitlin Aragon
Even with the track missing from Spotify, the credits have quietly changed: Singer Kaitlin Aragon is now listed as a performer on I Run alongside Haven. She recently posted a cover of the song on TikTok, but it’s unclear whether she’s actually the original voice or if the new credit somehow reflects the cover.
@kaitlinaragon1 even added the third “i run” in there for ya #haven #irun #newmusic ♬ original sound – Kaitlin Aragon
To make things even more confusing, the trending TikTok sound has now switched to a noticeably different vocal altogether.
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Featured image credit: TikTok/@haven.artist, @megagonefree
