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Meet the woman behind chart-topping AI artist Xania Monet: “I look at her as a real person”

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Meet the woman behind chart-topping AI artist Xania Monet: “I look at her as a real person”


Popular music artist Xania Monet’s voice has been heard by millions, but some fans were shocked to discover she’s a product of artificial intelligence.

Monet may be an avatar, but there’s very much a real person behind her: Telisha “Nikki” Jones.

“Xania is an extension of me”

“Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person,” Jones told “CBS Mornings” in an interview that aired Wednesday. 

Jones created the persona while teaching herself AI just four months ago. The 31-year-old Mississippi native admits she’s not a singer, but says the “lyrics are 100% me,” and that they come from poems she wrote based on real life experiences. 

“Whether it was stuff I went through, a close family member, or a close friend, I wrote about it.” Jones said losing her dad at just 8 years old inspired her chart-topping song, “How Was I Supposed to Know?”

Billboard says Monet is the “first known AI artist to earn enough radio airplay to debut on a Billboard radio chart,” appearing on at least five Billboard charts since her first song release.

“I’m just taking what I love doing and mixing it with tech,” explained Jones. She says she doesn’t consider using AI as a shortcut, though acknowledges that it “challenges the norm” and that often sparks strong reactions.

“I just feel like AI … it’s the new era that we’re in. And I look at it as a tool, as an instrument, and utilize it,” she added.

Jones outlined her song making process, saying she scrolls through her list of poems to see which she wants to make a song about. She puts the lyrics into an AI music-generator app, then adds different prompts, like slow tempo R&B, female soulful vocals, light guitar and heavy drums — and then clicks create.

AI artist lands multi-million dollar recording deal

Jones’ AI music success led to a multi-million dollar exclusive recording deal with Hallwood Media – and also some backlash from artists like Grammy-nominated Kehlani. Kehlani railed against the use of AI in creative spaces in a recent TikTok video, saying “nobody will be able to justify AI to me” and “I don’t respect it.”

But Jones says she doesn’t let critics stop her from making art.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Technology’s evolving. Everybody has different ways of putting in work to get to where they’re at. I don’t feel that way about it. I still love Kehlani’s music. I still listen to her every day,” she said.

Hallwood Media also defended the artist and said Monet represents a new age of music.

“What Nikki has done with Xania Monet really represents the future of music. It shows that taste and instinct have always mattered more than technical dexterity, and we’re now seeing that play out in real time. AI is breaking down barriers around age, image, and access, giving creators who might not have had a traditional path into the industry the chance to bring their stories and ideas to life while connecting directly with listeners. That kind of innovation is exactly what drives us at Hallwood,” Danny Jacobson, the head of A&R at Hallwood Media, said in a statement to “CBS Mornings.”

Addressing a concern some have that AI could allow people to make music from racial or cultural backgrounds they may not be a part of, Jones responded, “That’s what I’m here to let them know, I’m Telisha. I’m a part of your culture; I’m a Black woman; I’m a creator; I’m an entrepreneur; I created Xania,” she said.



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Taylor Swift shares top favourite show from 2025 amid holiday season

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Taylor Swift shares top favourite show from 2025 amid holiday season


Taylor Swift talks about her daily routine in newly released Eras Tour docuseries

Taylor Swift loves to keep her brain working in other directions while she is not writing music or planning stadium tours.

The 36-year-old pop superstar revealed what she is watching as soon as she has time to turn the TV on, after a long day at the studio or on the stage.

The Fate of Ophelia hitmaker shared the hectic routine she had during the Eras Tour in the recently released docuseries, End of an Era.

While her daily routine does not involve flying from one city to another and putting on a 3.5-hour-long show, she unwinds by watching some crime investigations on Dateline.

The 14-time-Grammy winner has been a longtime fan of the show, and she gushed about the show during her recent interview on Stephen Colbert’s late-night show as well.

“My kind of profession is coming up with ideas for stuff. So, if I can turn off the ideas for a second? Very exciting. I’ll put on — I’ll put on my Dateline, do you know what I mean?” Swift told the host of her favourite pastime.

The Opalite songstress is so deeply involved in the show that she was actually inspired by it to write her song, Florida!!!, on The Tortured Poets Department.

“I’m always watching like… Dateline, people have these crimes that they commit, where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida. They try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in,” Swift said in an interview after the release.





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Australia probes security services after Bondi Beach attack

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Australia probes security services after Bondi Beach attack


Australia´s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives with his wife Jodie Haydon to attend the memorial held for the victims of a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 21, 2025. — AFP
  • Attack described as inspired by “Daesh ideology”.
  • Review to examine powers, structures and information-sharing.
  • ASIO investigated the son in 2019, no threat found.

SYDNEY: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.

A father and his son are accused of spraying bullets into the family-thronged Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s most famous beach on December 14, allegedly inspired by “Daesh ideology”.

Albanese said his government will examine whether police and spy services have the powers, structures, and sharing arrangements “to keep Australians safe”.

“The [Daesh]-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation,” he said.

“Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond.”

Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.

His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in hospital under police guard and faces multiple charges, including terrorism and 15 murders.

‘Shocking event’

The son was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in 2019 for possible radicalisation but was found at the time not to pose a threat, according to Australian authorities.

Australias flag flies at half-mast at the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club near the promenade of Bondi Beach, where mourners have left floral tributes to honour victims of the shooting that took place there on December 14, in Sydney on December 18, 2025. — AFP
Australia’s flag flies at half-mast at the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club near the promenade of Bondi Beach, where mourners have left floral tributes to honour victims of the shooting that took place there on December 14, in Sydney on December 18, 2025. — AFP

His father was also questioned by the intelligence service as part of that review, but he managed to obtain a gun licence that allowed him to own six firearms.

A few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines that is now under investigation by detectives there and in Australia.

Albanese said there were “real issues” with Australia’s intelligence service in light of the attack.

“We need to examine exactly the way that systems work. We need to look back at what happened in 2019 when this person was looked at, the assessment that was made,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

Asked in a separate interview about the alleged gunmen’s stay at a hotel in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, Albanese said their radicalisation was under investigation.

“But it is also the case that they were not seen to be persons of interest, and that is why this is such a shocking event,” he said.

‘Very, very unusual’

There is a long history of insurgencies in the Mindanao region but authorities there say there is no evidence to suggest the Philippines is being used to coach extremists.

The facade of GV hotel is seen in Davao City, in the Philippines southern island of Mindanao. — AFP
The facade of GV hotel is seen in Davao City, in the Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao. — AFP

The staff of Davao City’s GV Hotel have told AFP that the two men stayed holed up in their small room for most of their 28-day stay.

They would usually leave their rooms only for two or three hours, with the longest excursion lasting eight hours, the Philippine national security service said.

Regional police, who have trawled through CCTV images to retrace the pair’s steps and discover who they met, said the father had visited a gun shop.

Clarke Jones, an Australian National University criminologist, said it was “very, very unusual” to have a father and son as suspected perpetrators.

Once in the Philippines, the pair could have easily travelled to Mindanao without raising any flags, he told AFP.

Jones, who has worked with violent offenders in the Philippines, said the alleged gunmen’s radicalisation had apparently gone “under the radar” for years after the Australian intelligence probe.

“I think we would really need to look at what happened, and whether that kid, when he was first detected, should have been put through some sort of support programme to prevent this potential thing happening,” he said.





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Dave Chappelle drops Netflix special, ‘Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…’

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Dave Chappelle drops Netflix special, ‘Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…’


Dave Chappelle drops Netflix special, ‘Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…’

Dave Chappelle surprised fans Friday night with a new Netflix stand-up special, Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…, filmed in Washington, D.C., and released without warning following the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight.

Taking the stage in a camo jacket featuring Colin Kaepernick’s name and number, Chappelle told the crowd, “We’ve got a lot to talk about,” explaining he returned home after Trump deployed the National Guard to the city.

“They’re trying to take the chocolate out of Chocolate City… I’ve got to go home while it’s still a city I remember,” he said.

Chappelle also addressed backlash over his appearance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, saying, “I’ve been getting a lot of grief,” before singling out Bill Maher: “I’ve never said this publicly but fuck that guy. I’m so fucking tired of his little smug, cracker-ass commentary.”

“I don’t feel guilty at all,” Chappelle said, adding that critics accused him of betraying his principles. He reiterated, “it’s easier to talk in Saudi Arabia for me than it is in America,” and joked, “transgender jokes went over very well in Saudi Arabia.”

The comedian later discussed reports surrounding Charlie Kirk, saying, “if you talk for a living and see Charlie Kirk get murdered that way, I’m gonna be honest, I was shook,” adding, “I was at home like, ‘Oh no! I’m dead as fried chicken.’”

Chappelle also reflected on Sean Combs’ sentencing, noting, “He saved my life,” and said of Cassie, “God bless her… what she went through was terrible.”

He closed by telling the crowd, “we are a community and we will stay sane together.”





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