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In anticipation of her new album, the rapper Nicki Minaj has assured followers for months on social media that they’d be “going to Gag Metropolis” — and so they took it actually.
Minaj’s on-line fan base used generative synthetic intelligence to create a fictional metropolis, creating and sharing photos of metropolises with the identical pink, dreamlike aesthetic featured within the cowl artwork for her album “Pink Friday 2,” which comes out Friday.
The rise of generative AI has put highly effective instruments within the palms of hundreds of thousands, permitting them to generate absolutely anything they’ll consider. On this case, these instruments within the palms of one of many web’s most rabid fan bases have resulted in the neighborhood creation of a fictional world that has gotten sufficient traction that even main manufacturers are taking part.
Such is #GagCity.
It began in September, when Minaj uncovered the paintings for the album, which options her in a surreal sky practice heading towards a pink metropolis. Minaj and her followers, referred to as the Barbz, embraced the imagery.
Minaj and the Barbz started referring to the lead-up to the album as a journey to Gag Metropolis, a reference to the LGBTQ slang time period “gag,” which means to be awestruck by one thing.
Late final month, some followers began to visualise Gag Metropolis utilizing AI, producing photos of metropolises that includes the identical pink and dreamlike aesthetic.
As Friday’s launch date shortly approached, Minaj performed into the AI renderings of Gag Metropolis and advised her followers on X to “put together for touchdown.”
Extra social media customers, manufacturers and celebs started inserting themselves into their very own AI variations of Gag Metropolis or declared themselves residents of Minaj’s digital city.
The habits of diehard followers of celebrities who usually manage on-line, generally referred to as stan tradition, has been thought to be extremely influential lately. The passionate fan bases have organized to have an effect on politics to the ticketing trade.
The Barbz and Minaj are used to participating on-line, and she or he has linked with followers throughout varied platforms. “Gag Metropolis” presents a way of the potential energy of fandom when it’s mixed with highly effective AI that has surged previously 12 months.
Generative AI, outlined as AI packages that may create a wide range of media based mostly on easy prompts, has already been used to create photos of a classy Pope Francis and trailers for ’80s variations of common TV exhibits.
“Gag Metropolis” seems to be the primary time an artist’s fan base has pushed consideration towards a undertaking utilizing generative AI and constructed a world that these outdoors the fandom can be part of.
Minaj, in the meantime, is leaning into the hype. She posted a teaser for “Pink Friday 2” on X on Wednesday night, informing followers that they have been “approaching Gag Metropolis.”
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