What happens when your favorite musician is... you?

This week on The New Dad Rock, Keith reveals a startling discovery: he's become the world's biggest fan of an artist who doesn't actually exist. Thanks to AI music generators, he's been creating songs tailored precisely to his own tastes—and then listening to them. A lot.

Steve, naturally, finds this deeply troubling.

The conversation begins with "The Ohio Afterglow Incident," where Steve's daughter mistakes one of Keith's AI-generated songs for Ed Sheeran, then mistakes a real artist for one of Keith's AI songs. Suddenly nobody knows which direction influence is flowing anymore.

From there, Steve and Keith wrestle with increasingly uncomfortable questions: If someone made the perfect song just for you, would you ever need another artist? If discovery disappears, does music become less meaningful? Is curation more valuable than creation? And at what point does Keith have to start paying himself royalties?

Along the way they explore the future of music, the Netflix-ification of culture, personalized nostalgia manufacturing, and whether infinite customization ultimately leaves us more isolated than connected. They also share the correct way to pronounce the band Hooveriii

For decades technology helped us find our tribe. AI might help us become a tribe of one.

Plus: CocoRosie, Ed Sheeran, monthly listener counts of exactly one, and the debut of a brand-new genre: Self-Rock.

Listen now before Keith releases another album and immediately becomes its biggest fan.

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