From "50 years later", "Free as the wind" to bolero playlists, young music performed by AI, AI music is stepping out of social networks to become familiar sounds in cafes, on buses. Behind this phenomenon is not only curiosity about technology.
Musician Nguyen Van Chung told Lao Dong Newspaper that recently, for about 10 trips he uses, there are 6-7 trips where drivers play music performed by AI.
Not just one genre. There are continuous streams from bolero, folk music, old music to youth music, but the common point is that the voice is processed or created by artificial intelligence.
From this seemingly small observation of the male musician, a change is happening in the way the public receives music: AI is no longer just a tool for netizens to create a fun song and then share it. It is starting to occupy a part of the everyday listening space.
50 Years Later" - a Chinese song with Vietnamese lyrics performed by AI in rock ballad style - once reached about 13 million listens on YouTube alone.
Songs like "Van ly sau", "Mua chieu", "Say mot doi vi em" also reached millions of views, creating a wave of AI music in the first months of 2026.
The common point of these songs is not that listeners are attracted by the story of a singer. Even many people do not know who the "singer" is.
When listeners only need a pleasant song
According to musician Hamlet Truong, AI music covers widely because it simultaneously solves two problems: convenience and economy.
AI can create a large number of songs with many styles in a short time. Users do not need to build playlists manually, find each recording or depend on a specific artist.
But Hamlet Truong believes that it is still necessary to look at the circumstances.
For a passive music listening environment, rather than spending money to go to the stage to see singers, the majority of audiences only need a catchy remix, a round and smooth voice to meet immediate entertainment needs," he told Lao Dong Newspaper.
This may be the key to explaining why AI music is especially suitable for cars, cafes, and stores. A person sitting in a car for 30 minutes may not need to know the singer's name.
Customers in the bar do not necessarily require to listen to a specific star. Music at that time plays a role in creating more atmosphere than the active audience.
Nguyen Van Chung believes that this phenomenon may simultaneously stem from taste and copyright factors.
Previously, he asked if the audience chose AI because of the new remix, convenient playlist, easy-to-listen voice or because after a period of exposure to smoothly processed sound, their headphones have gradually changed.
AI is winning by quantity before winning by quality
The explosion in Vietnam is also part of a larger trend. A traditional song must go through composition, harmony, recording, editing, post-production. With AI, part or most of the process can be shortened to a few operations. This is a very difficult competition to balance output.
However, Hamlet Truong believes that people listening to AI music does not mean that real singers have lost their position.
Audiences can listen to AI music to relax, but to truly admire, empathize and shed tears or spend money to watch a live band, they still need the story and emotional depth from the performer," he said.
Thus, the market may be split into two classes.
One layer is "fast-use" music: listening on the car, at work, in a bar, on short videos. The other layer is music associated with artists, images, concerts, fandoms and life experiences.
Nguyen Van Chung admitted that the current situation of course affects artists. However, he does not think that it is possible to simply ask the audience to return to listen to real people, because this is a consequence of technological development.
The problem, according to him, is that musicians must find out why audiences choose AI to improve their own products.
From a legal perspective, lawyer Truong Van Tuan - Trang Sai Gon Law Office, noted another factor that is affecting users' choices: the psychology that AI music is easier to exploit and less copyright-related. But this is a understanding that needs to be reconsidered.
Because a song performed by AI is not necessarily a song without ownership.
