Being a millennial in 2020 could be hard enough for a human, but what if you’re not? Well, human that is. Tera Bang® in an AI. She’s a 23-year-old tech enthusiast who lives inside of the internet and has a passion for music, dance, and fashion. Not only is she a 2nd generation Korean-American but an authentic gamer girl at heart. This digital star currently expresses herself on stage as one of the members of ATVR® along with Amaya Rush®, Valentina Verse®, and Ryda Rhymes® with a Little Mix vibe. Their brand new music video to the hit song “Queen” will be released in fall 2020.
Tera Bang® is not shy when it comes to shining in her own light as she rises into her solo career in music. On Oct 28th, she dropped her new single “All About Me” and decided to showcase herself in the music video where you can watch below. The single was produced by The Cha Cha Malone of AOMG and Quinton Davis.
Esha here at Sugar Gamers spoke with Bridget Watanabe, who currently runs all operations at Panjandrum.ai, yet started out on a musical path with the company. Esha wanted to gain more insight as to this solo entertainer of AVTR® is and how she came to life. “I started with Panjandrum.ai as a songwriter with song credits on AVTR – “Queen” & Tera Bang – “All About Me.” My friend, Co-founder & VP of Panjandrum Operations Quinton Davis got me looped in!” She continues, “After becoming more involved and writing Queen, my admin experience became handy and I became the Operations Manager for Panjandrum.ai assisting with admin and support the founders.”
Tera Bang® is outlined by her human model, their 3D team led by Dan Williams, their social media team in which they contribute heavily to Tera Bang®, and her image with the brand. Panjandrum.ai creates AI characters for the entertainment industry.
When it came to the creation of Tera Bang®, Panjandrum.ai used Unreal Engine and iClone to generate their star AI. Their team members spread through Washington, California, Seattle, and Australia. There are a handful of roles when putting an AI like Tera Bang® together.
Watanabe goes into detail by saying, “Most of our team has never met each other in person but we’ve been very productive. There are many industries looking for tech solutions in days of social distancing and when it comes to the music industry, releasing artists who can’t contract a virus and can appear on multiple digital platforms during a time when most are on their devices…I’d say that’s a pretty good solution!” That is true. AI never has to call out of work in order to do a job. In a way, for companies, we can see it is a gift that keeps on giving.
Knowing the rest of us humans are going through a pandemic here on Earth, the process of creating an AI was interesting enough. When there is not just one, but three other AI’s in the pictures the message could be that much more powerful. “I absolutely think there’s strength in numbers when it comes to Tera being apart of AVTR. Groups like Blackpink and BTS are showing us that strength these days. Each girl is so different and it makes bringing them together so strong. Unity is such a beautiful thing in divisive days,” Watanabe explains and goes on to mention, “Dan Williams, Quinton Davis, and Gavyn Rhone are more the foundation of the ideas. They started out with the idea of making singers who’ve passed away sing again, but that didn’t work out, eventually, they came to the idea of creating a new artist, 4 females to create AVTR.“
So what else makes Tera Bang® exciting? As we mentioned she is a gamer and very involved in music technology in her own time. Relating to another digital avatar is one thing, but when the digital AI relates to a human it’s another. Watanabe found a lot of herself in Tera Bang®. “When I’m not in admin/paperwork mode, I’m songwriting, producing, singing, knitting, playing videogames, cooking, being a stepmom, and wife. I see it as if I can do this stuff as a human.” As we know an avatar can be in two places at once, where humans can’t. However, Watanabe doesn’t see limitations when it comes to Tera Bang®. “Tera totally can as an avatar! I don’t see limits in Tera which is a little crazy for humans. Humans need rest and can’t be in two places at once. Tera can. She could be on twitch and appear in a fashion show at the same time!” As Watanabe has experience as a producer she feels women even in the digital world should take a stand on how that image is portrayed. “DAW Stations and MPK‘s are constantly evolving and more women are learning to produce which is fun! The world could definitely use more female producers!”
If representation can work from human to human in the industry, is it possible representation from human to digital can allude the same result? Only time will tell, but how long will it take? To create someone like Tera Bang was a process, but the results of personality and image are what matters. “We’ve been in the development stages the past year. I came on onboard April 2020, at that point the models were already scanned and the 3D pipeline was beginning to take shape. That’s when we began creating her identity!” Watanabe goes on to say, “Founders had already briefly discussed the possible avenues of identity for each girl so we took those initial thoughts and ran with them! Tera was described as an e-girl into tech music. Countless discussions took place among the team involving more female insight and feedback from Tera’s human model herself.” Watanabe concludes, “and Tera took into the form of a quirky, mysterious, 2020 version of MTV’s Daria (1990’s). Developing personality was organic but thoughtful and fun as well!”
Knowing that Tera Bang® is a gamer with an e-girl personality, Sugar Gamers wanted to dive in more into her image. When thinking of a CGI Influencer these days sometimes it can be tough to understand the tools behind “why” would they use digital vs a human. For Tera Bang®, she is already here and established in her digital world. As a gamer, streaming is very popular these days, even for Tera Bang®. When thinking about her world, where she comes from, what she wears, what she’s singing, we would love to know what games she’s playing. Or what her bedroom looks like when she’s streaming to a world full of, well.. us.
Esha took it upon herself to discover who Tera Bang® is in the eyes of someone from her gaming community. The digital AI superstar is an e-girl. She is obsessed with anything that has to do with the technological world around her when she’s home. When thinking about real accessories to purchase, we went straight for an RGB floor lamp for effect, a neon sign for the wall, an open closet to show off her fun bright clothing accessories like led fur coats, and holographic platform boots to name a few.
When Tera Bang® is sitting at her computer desk it’s all about what’s on it and what’s behind in view. We know she likes to stand out in her own regard and has a very independent yet courageous attitude. Gliding on the path towards being the next big artist in the virtual world isn’t impossible, but doable. So from here, it seems like Tera Bang® and the rest of her AVTR® members are on their way. In the meanwhile, let’s have some fun and see what it’s like to game with an actual AI from her very own bedroom.
1 Comment
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