Cyborg Voices: Identity, Artistry, and Performance in the Age of AI

Editor: Chloe Kirson-Jones
Publisher: Jenny Stanford publishing distributed through Taylor and Francis
Projected Publication: January 2027

Overview

How does the voice change when it becomes digital, disembodied, and co-created with machines? This edited volume examines the shifting landscape of vocal identity and artistry in the era of artificial intelligence. Bringing together scholars, artists, and practitioners, Cyborg Voices explores how AI-generated and technologically-mediated voices are transforming performance, authorship, and embodiment in popular music and digital culture.

The collection builds from practice-based research in which the editor develops and performs with an AI-synthesised version of her voice. Through this lens, the volume investigates the cyborg voice as a site of resistance, hybridity, vulnerability, and creative reinvention.

We invite contributions that critically or creatively engage with vocal experimentation across hyperpop, pop, electronic music, queer performance, voice synthesis, and digital arts.

Themes & Topics of Interest (include but not limited to):

• Cyborg feminism, posthumanism, and voice theory
• AI-generated voices and questions of authorship, agency, and ownership
• Voice synthesis in popular music production (e.g., hyperpop, EDM, AI vocalists)
• Queer and trans vocalities as technological and transformative practices
• Glitch aesthetics, synthetic timbre, auto-tune, and digital vocal processing
• Embodiment vs. dis-embodiment in live performance with technology
• Listening as activism / co-vocal care (Oliveros) in human–machine interaction
• Ethical and political implications of vocal data, identity, and labour
• Fan cultures, virtual idols, avatars, and parasocial vocal intimacy
• Voice as archive memory, death, and uncanny preservation
• New forms of virtuosity and collaboration in AI-mediated music

Contribution Types

We welcome a range of formats:

• Scholarly chapters (6–8k words)
• Practice-based reflections with media documentation
• Interviews, case studies, and artist perspectives
• Co-authored or collaborative experiments

Proposals centering historically marginalised voices and communities are particularly encouraged.

Submission Timeline

Abstract submission (250–350 words + short bio) – 20 February 2026
Acceptance notifications – 20 April 2026
Full chapter deadline – 19 September 2026
Revision period – Oct- Dec 2026
Final submission to publisher – January 2027
Earlier submissions are welcome and will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Submission & Queries

Please send abstracts and any questions to: [email protected]

About the Volume

Cyborg Voices offers an interdisciplinary contribution to current debates on music, technology, and identity. By situating the voice as a relational, political, and material force, the collection interrogates what it means to sing and be heard when the voice is no longer bound to the body.