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Endless Dupes

Yung Lean’s ‘Storm’ Video Has Been Cloned by AI, And Its Director Isn’t Impressed

Romain Gavras says the endless remakes make the original look “lame” and leave him questioning his future in filmmaking

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Yung Lean Storm AI
Yung Lean and GENER8ION’s “Storm” music video has inspired countless of generated AI videos. Screenshot from GENER8ION/YouTube

Yung Lean and GENER8ION’s “Storm” has become the subject of endless AI copycats.

While this isn’t their first collaboration, “Storm” is quickly becoming the most discussed because of its highly acclaimed . One half of GENER8ION, Romain Gavras, directed the video, whose CV includes M.I.A.’s stunning racecourse video “Bad Girls,” Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne track “No Church in the Wild,” and Jamie xx’s sublime dance video “Gosh.”

As the “Storm” drew popularity for its iconic syncopated dance sequence, by September, Gavras’ daughter had drawn his attention to multiple AI versions of the scene online, with Lean and the dancers replaced by animals, creatures, athletes like Erling Haaland, celebrities, politicians, and even worse, figures like Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Epstein, and Elon Musk. Most of the clips were generated by the AI tool Genjutsu, launched by AI video company Higgsfield in August.

In an interview with Vulture, Gavras expressed his disappointment over the multiple versions spreading online.

“It made me sad for all the people who put in so much work on our video,” Gavras says. “A trend like this can make even good work look lame. Part of me wanted to quit filmmaking, move back to Greece, and become an olive farmer.”

Gavras has turned down offers from AI companies to license the video. He says he feels demotivated about the issue, with hundreds of adapted videos in different variations that all repeat the same dance pattern.

“There’s an economic model coming that we didn’t want to be a part of,” he says. “I’m a mercenary when I do commercials, but ‘Storm’ was supposed to be pure and I can’t stain it.”

On September 28, Yung Lean performed “Storm” at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, alongside the same set of dancers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Gavras has directed videos for M.I.A. and her stunning racecourse video “Bad Girls,” Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne track “No Church in the Wild,” and Jamie xx’s sublime dance video “Gosh.”

The AI tool that was used to generate the music video is Genjutsu, launched by AI video company Higgsfield in August 2026.

The figures that replaced Yung Lean and the dancers were animals, creatures, athletes like Erling Haaland, celebrities, politicians, and figures like Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Epstein, and Elon Musk.

Yung Lean performed “Storm” at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, last September 28.

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Elijah Pareño

Elijah Pareño

Music Writer

Elijah Pareño is the Music Writer of Rolling Stone Philippines. He writes daily music news, features, reviews, and radar stories of the website.

In addition to music writing, Pareño has written about the behind-the-scenes writers and producers from the P-pop scene, interviewed hip-hop artists like Shanti Dope and Zae, and featured up-and-coming artists for the Music Forecast 2026. Aside from music, Pareño has written about the state of affairs that affects pop culture. He wrote a movie review for 'Mortal Kombat II' and reported and interviewed photojournalists at the September 21, 2025 protests in Luneta and Mendiola.

Prior to working in Rolling Stone Philippines, Pareño was a freelance writer for 3 years and independent live music promoter

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