Transcription
Having to give back their Grammy. [music] It's the only time that has happened in music history.
>> And the best new artist is Millie Vanilli.
In the late 1980s, Millie Vanilli was the band everyone was talking about.
>> It's Millie Vanill. Millie Vanill. >> Millie Vanill. >> MILLIE VANILL. >> MILLIE VANILL. >> WE'RE GOING to a Millie Vanilli concert.
But on July 21st, 1989, Millie Vanilli got caught lip-syncing on live television.
>> More embarrassment today for the pop singing group Millie Vanilli.
A lot of singers do that on stage. And normally it wouldn't be a big deal. But this time it was different because Millie Vanilli wasn't lip-syncing to their own voices. They were just two dancers hired to lip-sync to tracks recorded by professional singers.
And now you probably heard the story before, but here's the thing nobody is talking about. Some of today's biggest music stars are still doing exactly what Millie Manili did. They use ghost singers to record their tracks and pretend it's their own songs. So, we dug deep into this story and what we found was just shocking. Some of the most famous names in pop music are faking it and yet nobody seems to care anymore, >> which is very common in the music industry.
Let me tell you a story. in in the end of 87. He has an idea and I think maybe >> this is Frank Faren, a German producer who wanted to break into the American market in the late8s and he knew exactly what would sell. Young, attractive performers who could put on a show on stage. So he found two good-looking professional dancers, Rob Pilotis and Fabric Morbin. They said, "We're working on a project and we're [music] thinking that you could be good for it if we were interested." Hell yeah, we were interested. They had the moves, the look, the stage presence, everything you'd want from a proper pop star. There was only one tiny problem. They couldn't sing.
So Frank came up with what he thought was a genius idea. >> One click in my mind and the crazy idea was was born. What if he hired professional singers to record the vocals and Rob and Fab? Well, they could just pretend to sing. >> Rob turns to me saying, "They don't want us to sing. They want us to lip sync the song." I'm like, "What?" >> Since I'm an actor, an entertainer, he needed an act who poses as a singer. You know, he don't want us to sing. He never tried our vocals.
He brought in established session singers Charles Shaw, John Davies, and Brad Howell. These were professionals who would nail every note, hit every harmony perfectly, but they didn't quite have that look that Frank Faren was looking for. So Faren made a deal with them. The session singers would get paid well, but stay anonymous. Robin Fab will become the faces.
Let's just stay on Frank for a second because this is important. Uh Frank Faren is kind of a genius and I think you might have heard of him because he had already done something similar earlier in Europe [music] in the 70s and 80s with a band called Bonnie M. And with Bonnie M, it was actually Fion himself who sang on Bunny M's original recordings, not Bobby Farrell, the front man everyone saw performing. It was a huge, huge success. [music] You probably heard of Bonnie M yourself. So when Frank set out to conquer America, he knew the formula would work.
Millie Vanilli released Girl You Know It's True and Blame It on the Rain. The songs became massive hits for 2 years. It worked [music] perfectly. >> 7 million albums sold, this year's Grammy for the best new artists. >> There are a lot of artists outside in the world who can achieve the same award that we achieve today. And it's an award for all artists in the world. Thank you very much.
Frank Faren was finally cracking the American market until that one technical error on July 21st, 1989. [cheering] >> The vocals that were being cued from the emulator started repeating [music] >> 80,000 people. You know, I couldn't repeat it 15 times. It got obvious. So I stopped. I panicked. I ran off stage. [cheering] >> Billy Vanilli [music] turns out to be a lot of phony baloney.
The aftermath was chaos. People were confused, suspicious, and demanding answers. A California woman [music] who bought the album for her son is suing to get a refund.
>> For months, they tried to stick to the story. >> You [music and singing] want to get it off and tell me [singing and music] now everything. >> For the last year, they've been working on a new album on the dance steps and on the singing.
But in November of 1990, Frank Faren held a press conference and dropped the bomb. I think it's fair we show the real singer. >> And just like that, it was all over. For the first time in history, a Grammy was being revoked.
But the biggest tall fell on Rob and Fab. They weren't just cancelled. They were vilified. Seen as immoral human beings who had lied to millions of fans. A lot of your fans will be very upset by the fact that the only way you can explain the sherade, the fast, the fakery of the last year, two years is money. >> It's not. This is fake. >> No other reason. That's the only pressure that Fabian put on you was finance. >> Do you live in a project? Did you live in a project?
The psychological toll was immense. >> You knew that wasn't true when you said >> in order to cope with it, we got into the alcohol and the drugs. was to numb ourselves and to be able to like medication, self-medicating. >> There was nothing to believe no more for me. I lost the the good, the innocence. Rob Pilates struggled with depression and substance abuse and he died of an overdose in 1998 at just 32 years old.
The Millivani scandal became a cautionary tale. Everyone thought this was an isolated case of fraud in the music industry because in 1989 people still believed that what they saw was real. Authenticity in music meant everything. And this was my perception. Interesting story. But the music industry evolved. They learned. And surely this couldn't be happening today. But as we kept digging, what we found completely changed the way I see the music industry today.
>> Once again, Ashley Simpson. >> October 23rd, 2004. Saturday Night Live. Ashley Simpson is about to perform her second song of the evening. But then something goes wrong. song. >> All of a sudden, the wrong track starts playing and she does that now famous awkward dance and walks off stage.
Was this just an unfortunate incident of lip-syncing gone wrong? Or was it something deeper? There's something about lip syncing that just feels wrong. Like we hate it when we're being lied to. >> Claims that Beyonce was actually lip syncing are now setting the internet ablaze. When we see Beyonce sing during the inauguration, we expect her to be singing for real, right? And when we find out she's not, we feel betrayed. >> I'm very proud of my my performance.
And it's the same feeling that I have every time I hear about identity thefts. >> One in 10 American children is the victim of identity theft. >> I just recently learned that there are companies called data brokers. And what they do is that they scrape your personal information. Everything from your phone number to your email address to your home address even and then sell it online to scammers and fraudsters. >> There was somebody out there with my information and pretending to be me.
It is almost impossible to stop these data brokers unless you use Incogn. Incogn is a service that automatically contacts data brokers on your behalf and gets them to delete your data. And just imagine for a second how much time and effort it would take for you if you had to do it all by yourself. But with incogn, add your basic info and then they start reaching out for you. And within days, those gnarly data brokers by law have to delete all your information. This is now one of the biggest forms of organized crime we have. In the US alone, 22% of people report being victims of identity theft at least [music] once in their life. So if you value privacy, I think you should test incogn. And you can do that now by using my link incogn.com/asa park for 60% off on an annual incogn plan. And don't wait for your data to be used against you. Take control and stay safe.
Now talking about scammers, let's get back to the greatest scam in the music industry.
>> I froze when I like started doing this and I was like, "Okay, I think I've done the ho down long enough. Maybe I should walk off."
Ashley Simpson or Beyonce weren't the only ones lip-syncing. Artists have been lip-syncing to their own voices for decades. [music] The Beatles even did it on the Ed Sullivan show. Artists did it all the time on MTV because when you're dancing and flipping around with crazy choreography, it's nearly impossible to sing live perfectly when you're on live television. Just think about those Super Bowl halftime shows. Hundreds of millions of people watching. The stakes are huge. So, most performances actually do use a lot of lip-syncing. And a lot of artists actually do get caught lip-syncing.
>> Crazy crazy rumors. I keep hearing about myself like that. I can't perform without lip-syncing. [snorts] Okay, which is not true. See, when I appeared on the Grammy Awards and sang Baby One More Time. I mean, I had some backup singers doing the harmonies, but I sang all the lead vocals live.
But it was Ashley Simpson's SNL moment that went viral. She got mocked mercilessly. Ashley Simpson went from being a rising star to a national joke almost overnight. She had to apologize publicly. Well, I handled it calm, but like when it happened, I was definitely like crying and my dad was like, "Come on, baby. Get yourself together." >> Appearing on shows to explain herself, >> but I feel so bad. My band started playing the wrong song and I didn't know what to do, so I thought I'd do a hoown.
And in the beginning, she was just pretending that it was funny and that she didn't care. But it didn't help. For some reason, people just felt betrayed. The incident followed her for years. And unfortunately, it has wound up becoming the defining moment of her career. >> Doing this like I didn't know how to do that. For me, it was the most humbling experience of my life because [music] the whole world thinks everything that you just put your heart and soul into writing is a joke.
Yet, even with all that backlash, the scandal blew over relatively quickly compared to Millie Vanilli. Within a year, she was back performing. We all moved on because by 2004, the music industry had fundamentally changed. probably best illustrated by one music production effect, the autotune. Autotune and other tuning plugins became the number one weapon of choice for singers. It helped them stay in key. Some criticized it as a crutch for bad singers, but it was also a creative tool. The artist was still the one singing, still performing. It was their voice heavily processed.
>> So, the tuning is really, really fast. So, we've heard it as a normal performance. Now we've got the effect on. [music]
But here's what autotune and other easily accessible audio plugins really changed. The power dynamic. Before these tools, the artist was essential. You needed someone who could actually sing. But now producers could take on a wider range of singers and still make them sound good. >> Someone singing, maybe some slight note slightly out of tune. Our computer program can actually change that and put it back in tune and give you a perfect take. After Ven, >> the producers got more power. Artists became more of a tool for the producers to use rather than the other way around.
What Mel Vanilli did using completely different voices. Surely that never happened again in the music industry. At least that's what we thought until we found some shocking evidence that proved us wrong. This is Jennifer Lopez at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Multi-platinum recording artist, global superstar, someone [music] who's built an empire on a music career. She's not actually singing on many of her biggest hits. And this isn't speculation. It's well documented and reported within [music] the music industry. The problem is just that most people don't know about it.
Let's look at the evidence. We can start with the song Play. I am my soul. >> This song was originally recorded by Christina Milan in 2000. [music] Milan wrote it, recorded it, and it was supposed to be her single, but the label took Milan's vocal performance and gave it [music] to Jennifer Lopez. >> Producers tell me, "Oh, Tommy Matah is coming in and he's going to listen to some [music] music." He hears Play, loves it, and he's like, "I want this as her single." I recorded the original demo. A month later, Tommy Matah gets it for Jennifer. [music]
Then there's I'm Real and Ain't It Funny. Ashanti has claimed for years that she performed lead vocals for both massive JLo hits, not background vocals, [music] the lead vocals. The pattern goes beyond just a few songs. Several industry insiders are claiming the same thing, that Lopez's actual vocal contributions to her own albums are [music] minimal.
But here's what's fascinating. It's not really a secret. Mariah says she often sleeps just 3 hours a night. When told Lopez claimed to get eight, Mariah [music] said, quote, "If I had the luxury of not actually having to sing my own songs, I'd do that, too." >> Music journalists have [music] reported on it for years. The information is out there. Yet, Jennifer Lopez continues to be celebrated as a recording artist. She's been the judge on American Idol for Christ's sake. >> I love working creatively together with other people. So, [music] but I'd never thought about being a judge, so this was this was all a big surprise for me.
Evaluating other people's singing, she headlines tours and festivals where people are paying a lot of money to hear and see her perform. And her fans, well, many of them know. Social media is full of discussions about Lopez's use of ghost singers. The information isn't hidden. And this creates a weird situation because Jennifer Lopez is essentially doing exactly the same thing Milivani did, building a career on other people's voices. I guess the difference is just execution and the era.
Selena Gomez has faced questions about her actual vocal contributions. Industry insiders suggest much of what we hear involves significant help from uncredited singers. The same even goes for Britney Spears during her peak years. And these are just the cases we know about. How many other artists are using ghost singers without any acknowledgement?
When Millie Vanilli was exposed, [music] it was a scandal that destroyed careers. But when pop stars do it today, it's barely news. So I guess the question is what changed? Why did Rob Pilotis and Fab Morvin get destroyed for doing exactly what Jennifer Lopez has built her career on? >> About the fans backlash, you know, running over your records, returning them. >> Yeah, I understand. I really understand them. I have to say I understand them.
In the late8s, fans knew Millanilly through music videos and occasional TV appearances. The relationship was distant. So when the music turned out to be fake, there was nothing else to sustain the connection. Jennifer Lopez, on the other hand, has over 200 million Instagram followers. They see her working out, her family moments, her daily life. Her fans feel like they know her personally. >> Pretty. I'm saying you you're used to seeing me kind of like the little old lady at home and then when I get up and start dancing you're like, "Oh, right. I forgot she could dance."
And when you feel connected to someone's personality and brand, does the credibility of their work matter as much. I think it's deeper than just social media. Look at what happened in the 2010s. A new type of superstar emerged and started to dominate the charts. Avichi, Calvin Harris, David Geta, they're producers. They don't sing on their own songs and everybody knows it. So what happened in the 2010s was that the producer became the artist. The singer became more of an accessory, the face of the brand. But that's not all. The average hit song today has like 10 writers and four producers. And when the song credits look like a Marvel movie end credit, why is the voice sacred? People couldn't care less about who writes or who sings. They care about the song, the celebrity, the icon, the personality. Authenticity became irrelevant.
And it's not just music. Our entire culture shifted in 1990. We believed that what we saw was real. We believed in authenticity because we hadn't yet learned to question it. When the Millie Manili scandal hit at the worst possible moment because that [music] was the exact moment where culture turned against polish and perfection. Grunch was about to explode. MTV was launching the real world. Compare that to today where being real can actually hurt your career. >> This is not what I look like right now. This filter should be illegal. Here's the real me. >> People on social media use filters to make themselves [music] look completely different than they actually are. >> Makes me look like a better person. So, it's like, I don't know, sucking my face up that way or that way, you know, like it doesn't matter as long as there's something there.
Music is tuned and quantized. [music] advertising no longer reflects the actual products we're buying. And I know what some of you might be thinking. I I have friends who tell me that why do you care? Their argument goes something like this. That music's core purpose is to move people, create joy, provide connection, and if a Selena Gomez concert accomplishes that, does it really matter if she's lip-syncing to someone else's voice? We've never had a problem with this in other entertainment industries. In Hollywood musicals, actors have lip sync to professional singers voices for years. [singing] [singing and music] >> Nobody considered this deceptive, >> but that wasn't ever particularly talked about because they didn't Hollywood didn't want to destroy the illusion.
And now we have deep fakes, AI content, and social media manipulation. Why is music the one area where authenticity should still matter? Maybe getting shocked and upset about ghost singers is like being shocked that Marll use CGI. Of course they do. Maybe I have to look at it more as I look at professional wrestling. Like I know it's fake, but I love the spectacle anyway.
But I just can't accept that. And here's why. >> [music] >> pirates. [music] >> This is what I'm talking about when I'm talking about authenticity. When I hear Johnny Cash, I know it's him. There's just something in his voice that cannot be faked. The gravel, the pain, the lived experience. Adele, Freddy Mercury, Kurt Cobain, these voices are fingerprints. So when I see Jennifer Lopez on stage and hear someone else's voice, what am I actually experiencing? When I listen to Millanilly, who am I really connecting with?
The promise of music has always been simple. This person singing these words. Sharing their voice with you. And when that basic contract gets broken, when the person you see isn't the person you hear, we lose something that goes way deeper than just entertainment. But here's what really bothers me. We've normalized this loss of trust. We live in a world where models don't look like their photos. Where influencers present lives that don't exist. Where politicians sell visions that bear no resemblance to reality. Where everything is filtered, processed, optimized for consumption. And I can speak for myself. Somewhere along the way, I just stopped fighting back. I accepted that authenticity is old-fashioned, naive, unrealistic. in the middle of a nearly scandal happened at a moment in time when we still believe things could be real and should be real when discovering that something was fake actually mattered. But that innocence is lost. We've become so accustomed to being lied to that we stopped expecting [music] the truth. Millie Vanilly didn't just expose a scandal in the music industry. They exposed a turning point in our culture. The moment when we decided that feeling real was good enough, even when it wasn't real at all.
Oh, one more thing before I let you go. We did a video about Aussie Osborne recently, and we're really, really proud of it. And for some reason, we feel like it hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. If you want to watch it, it's here. And if you like this video, I promise you, you will love that one. And check out the incognite through the link in the description, incogn.com/asapark. And as always, be curious.