Seven years since her last release, Olivia Hadjiioannou, better known by her stage name Oh., speaks again after a long silence. Released this month, her single “I Pray for Love” is not just an auditory experience but an emotional one as well. I want to focus on two elements that are separate but not unrelated in the overall effect the song provides. The first, the song itself, is an emotional dive. The intensity of feeling, which manifests in slow, syrupy vocals, layers of strings, piano, and an honesty that Oh. weaves into each note is so palpable that it is hard not to be swallowed up by the experience. Oh. does not need to scream, or be dramatic. She keeps the song spiritual and minimalist. Her vocal tone alone, a husky voice as if she is speaking to something more than herself, intones something close to prayer. There is little ego on display. Her lyrics do not draw attention to themselves as clever or sharp. It almost feels like she is talking to herself, reading her own thoughts out loud. You can hear this is internal, this is her.
Oh. did not, however, create a single in the traditional sense. In creating “I Pray for Love”, she created a film as well. It is important to note that Oh. created this short film with the help of AI, using OpenAI’s new Sora model to generate her visuals. Taking one source image of herself as a reference and hundreds of detailed written prompts, Oh. gave Sora the freedom to interpret the image. The final result is an ethereal series of tableaux that evoke the emotional state of the song without detracting from the music itself. The film is not bombastic, it is ethereal, simple, and there is an uncanny humanity to it in spite of its genesis. It is rare to see art and AI work together in such a seamless way that they do not pull away from each other.
Oh.’s short film has had an immediate impact around the world, with awards in Greece for Best Short Film Created with Artificial Intelligence as well as recognition in Italy, Canada, and the United States. But at the end of the day, beyond the technological achievement, or the accolades of critics and institutions, “I Pray for Love” cuts to the quick – love and human connection. Those are the important parts. The need for that, and the feeling of it when it returns. “I Pray for Love” is the rare kind of artistic release, film or song, that lodges itself deep inside the listener and resonates long after you first hear it, or see it. And, perhaps, sometimes love does not need to shout to be heard. Sometimes, all it needs to do is speak again.
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