The use of AI in "The Schlager Hit Parade" video is a clever trick and ironic stylistic choice to take aim at all the artificiality of the German Schlager.
It's only a laugh - no harm done!
(I say that as an artist who's highly critical and rejecting towards AI.)
This.
At first it had me confused as well - until i sat down the next moment and thought of WHY it was used in the first place. The cheap AI wasn't used for the sake of lazily including AI, but to undermine the cheapness of Schlager itself. Schlager is rather frowned upon in the German music scene, linked to oldschoolness, a poor taste and the infamous Mallorca Ballermann parties which pretty much have become a meme in itself (you probably have to be German to truly understand the vibes, and in that sense, it just shows how well the boys understand the Germans). This is also added with the videos of Chris running around with a handheld camera, filming himself partying (which, needless to say, is an absolute gem in its own right) - it oozes with the "Home-video-Ballermann"-vibe. It's cheap, it's unhinged, it's beautifully cringy - just like Schlager. Making this video nothing short but genius.
I'm in NO way, shape or form an advocate of AI myself and view it just as critical as the next guy, but i DO acknowledge it whenever it is used cleverly - and by that, i mean merely as a helping tool. Neil Tennant himself mused that "the use of AI can help overcoming a writer's block" (in a sense that it can kickoff or spark a new idea for you that you can then build on yourself and on your own). And, as a writer myself, i'm surprised enough to say - he's right on this one.
