Jemily Rime

Whether researching responsible applications of AI in music production or immersive audio in cultural heritage, I’ve always put people at the centre of my work: What do musicians want? How do audiences feel during a piece? How can we connect communities to the sounds of their cultural heritage? This translates into carrying and caring about “good” evaluation and impact analysis. But what is “good”, rigorous evaluation when we step away from an anthropocentric view? Yet “de-centring” from the human cannot mean letting go of the needs of our very human society. Musicians are suffering from the uncertainties certain technologies have brought to our industry, and we have a duty to highlight the policies important to them, while also envisioning how these may affect our other-than-human world. How will our waterways recover from the weight of an endlessly thirsty industry? How will communities remember the changes to their sonic landscapes?

Now more than ever, I find my practice driven by questions. My last pop record (Phantom Feels, 2026) focused on embracing the not-knowing, in reference to being always removed from the true meaning of our feelings, and I am realising how important this is to me beyond songwriting. Acknowledging the not-knowing leads us to wonderful discoveries, whether further interrogations, innovations or creative outlets. In an inconsistent world, I am comforted by the consistency of a practice led by the certainty of not-knowing.

I’m delighted to nominate Jemily Rime for BEYOND Emerging Innovators. I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring and collaborating with her, and she is a brilliant creative technologist and musician. She combines serious research with the imagination and technical skill to make incredibly compelling academic and creative outputs that beautifully challenge our relationships between sound and technology. These outputs include research on personalised, immersive podcasting, spatial audio installations, and papers around AI and Ethics focussing on fair roles and rewards in AI music-making. She has also brought these questions to public conversations, appearing on an an increasing number of panels around AI musical practices and voice cloning.

Toby Young

Guildhall School of Music & Drama

 

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