Dolly Parton doesn't want to live on as an AI hologram: 'I don't want to leave my soul here on this earth'
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Digital immortality is not in the cards for Dolly Parton.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer wants to be remembered for the music made over the course of her epic career — and not for any posthumous hologram concerts. While chatting with The Independent ahead of her upcoming album release, the 77-year-old singer said she has no interest in the artificial intelligence hologram technology that so many of her peers are exploring.
"I think I've left a great body of work behind," Parton said. "I have to decide how much of that high-tech stuff I want to be involved [with] because I don't want to leave my soul here on this earth."
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Dolly Parton
Referencing her decades-long career and beloved discography, she added, "I think with some of this stuff I'll be grounded here forever… I'll be around, we'll find ways to keep me here."
Hologram concerts for both living and deceased musical artists have become a popular trend. Last year ABBA launched a London residency concert inviting fans to see the group as they were in 1979. Similarly, the Whitney Houston hologram has also made the rounds with her posthumous concert tour, An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour.
Parton, who expressed no interest in building a similar virtual concert experience around her work, joked that "everything" about her, including "any intelligence" was artificial anyway.
For the time being, Parton is still adding to her already impressive list of accomplishments. The singer is presently approaching the release of her hotly anticipated album, Rockstar. Inspired by her 2022 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Parton explained that the pressure of the accomplishment encouraged her to further explore the genre.
"I didn't want to take it because I didn't think I had earned it," she said. "That's the main reason I went ahead [with rock music]."
The album is a mix of original songs and rock classics. Parton collaborates with rock legends including surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Journey's Steve Perry, Sting, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sheryl Crow, Pat Benatar, and Elton John. The album even welcomes younger talent like Lizzo, Pink, Brandi Carlile and Parton's goddaughter, Miley Cyrus.
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