“They Can Create a Different Version of You Every Single Day”: Kenny Chesney on Being a Private Person in Today's AI-Driven World

During a conversation with Melissa Ziobro - the Director of Curatorial Affairs and Director of Public History for the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music - Kenny Chesney has reflected on holding onto his privacy in today's all-access world.

The country legend has always made a point of keeping his personal life separate from his public persona, with the ‘Everything's Gonna Be Alright’ hitmaker retreating to the US Virgin Islands and going off-grid in-between his titanic summer tours.

Particularly given the fact that Chesney remains one of the biggest names in country, gossip and rumours have always clung closely to the ‘Just To Say We Did’ singer-songwriter. So you can understand why, in order to maintain his position atop the genre while simultaneously holding onto his sanity, Chesney has found the need to carve out this space in the islands that acts as his sanctuary. From the way he talks about it, this serves not only as a physical space in which he can unplug and recharge, but also provides emotional space from his day-to-day.

When asked by Ziobro about managing the intense glare of the spotlight that has followed him throughout his career, Chesney reflects, “Well, I mean...I'm still working on this. That's harder every day with the way society is. But I'm a pretty private person...I think in the nature of what I do, some things are fair game, right?”

Chesney expands, “But I'm pretty private, and the intimate details of my life, I like to keep to myself...There's stuff said about everybody and everything, especially now with AI. I mean, they can create a different version of you every single day”.

We've seen high-profile instances of this with Chesney's fellow country icons, such as Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire, where AI has been used to generate fake images of these acts on their deathbeds on social media. Recently, these became so prevalent that Parton and McEntire had to come out and confirm they were not real.

Chesney concludes by underlining that, especially in the midst of this AI-fuelled world, it brings him peace of mind to know that he saves a piece of himself from the public eye, “But the authentic me, I get to keep to myself. Then I get to write songs, and I get to give [fans] the authentic version of me through my music and what I do [on-stage]”, before poking fun at AI renditions of him, “There's so many versions out there - and fake Kenny's! It's crazy. It's almost comical”.

As Chesney outlines, he's always placed a significant emphasis on authenticity and sincerity throughout his discography, which makes it easier for the ‘You and Tequila’ crooner's loyal No Shoes Nation fanbase to discern what is real and what isn't.

But with an AI country song - Breaking Rust's ‘Walk My Walk’ - hitting No. 1 on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales earlier in the year, it's getting trickier to tell the difference.

We like to think that - for our favourite artists such as Chesney, at least - we'll always be able to determine their real songs from AI-generated shadows of their sound. But who knows? What's evident is that Chesney is not letting the AI juggernaut affect his state of mind, as he returns to the islands after a successful HEART*LIFE*MUSIC book tour, and prepares for his second run at Sphere Las Vegas.

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