IDLES turn Yellow for their AI augmented promo

As inauspicious as it might seem now, the music video for Coldplay's second single, Yellow, not only launched the band into the attention of many, it also charmed with its lo-fi time-shifting and earnest performance from frontman Chris Martin.

All of which makes it a curious, if not genius, subject for an AI 'reinterpretation' for IDLES latest track Grace; Martin's solo walk-and-sing digitally manipulated to make it look like he's belting out a post-punk melody rather than a career-making ode to colour.

Created through Joyrider, and led by director Jonathan Irwin, the film deployed sophisticated AI techniques and deepfake technology, meticulously synchronising Martin's vocals and movements to match the alternate lyrics; achieving this through detailed facial and mouth mapping, extensive AI training iterations, and editing trickery for authentic temporal alignment (the IDLES song clocking in at a shorter runtime).

In a 'what-is-even-real-anymore' blending of original footage with newly created elements, the strangely mesmerising promo achieves a seamless integration that, somehow, preserves the integrity of the original performance while adapting it to a new context.