Hollywood star and singer Jared Leto talks to NAOMI CLARKE about Thirty Seconds To Mars’ latest tour and his hopes and fears for AI in music
JARED Leto is not one to do things by half measures. From his dramatic on-screen transformations in movies like Suicide Squad and House of Gucci, to his extravagant red-carpet looks, the Hollywood star tends to go all in.
So when faced with creating new material for his band Thirty Seconds To Mars, it perhaps comes as little surprise to learn that he and his brother Shannon created about 200 songs during lockdown.
Some of that collection went on to become their sixth album, It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day, signalling the start of a new era for the band, which formed in Los Angeles in 1998.
“It was like a forced mini-retirement for him [Shannon] and I too, because we hadn’t stopped in so long,” frontman and lead singer Jared, 52, tells me during a video call.
“It was actually really good for both of us in hindsight. It was a tough time for so many people around the world, but it gave us a moment to breathe.
“We started working on this music and we wanted to do something different, not just make something that was expected. And we did that.”
The 11-track record delves into the darker side of the human experience and the world, while still holding on to hope.
This appears to be Jared’s attitude to many of the obstacles that come his way, which include the latest gargantuan challenge facing the entertainment world – artificial intelligence (AI).
“I’ve had people already send me images, audio of me, that sound exactly like me, look exactly like me,” he says.
“I had someone send a fake song that sounded exactly like me and I was impressed with the technology, and also really concerned at the same time.
“I think that’s probably a natural reaction that one would have. But it’s exciting and also, it’s a wild time.”
The Oscar winner (he was named Best Supporting Actor for his performance in 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club) was among the hundreds of thousands who supported last year’s strike by the US actors union Sag-Aftra which brought Hollywood to a standstill over a series of issues, including the unregulated use of AI.
It continues to be a major concern for the entertainment industry, with programmes like ChatGPT relying heavily on copyrighted material for their development.
“I have a lot of thoughts on it,” Jared says, of the future of AI. “But I think ultimately it’s an inevitability.
“It’s a tool at best and at worst, it’s disruptive. To what degree? No one knows yet.
“I think on the one hand, it’ll help people unlock really creative dreams where they might have not had the ability to do that. So you’ll see people making incredible things with the help of AI that they wouldn’t have been able to before.
“But on the other end, it’s important to protect people, to protect creative people, to protect artists.”
The Fight Club actor feels there needs to be a lot of thought and care taken when approaching the swiftly developing technology, and if it came to a Sag-Aftra-esque strike to protect music artists, Jared would be standing in solidarity.
“Things are changing so quickly, it’s hard to know even what the issues might become, because it keeps changing so rapidly.
“What we think are some of the problems right now, three or six months or a year from now, it could be completely different.
“But, like I said before, at the best it’s a tool, and hopefully it will be and continues to be a tool for artists and all kinds of different people to use in positive ways. And we can, at the same time, keep an eye on things to make sure that we protect people and artists, jobs and creativity, and all of that as well.
“I’m an optimistic person, I think there’s a way to do that.”
While this technology seeps into more aspects of our lives, it has not yet replaced the thrill of watching an artist perform live.
And with more than 20 years of experience on the road, Thirty Seconds To Mars are confident in their ability to put on a show.
They kicked off their Seasons world tour in support of their latest album in March, with plans to play Latin America, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. And after a five-year break from touring, the band are more fired up than ever, with Jared hailing the latest gigs as the “best shows of our lives”.
“It is an amazing thing,” he tells me from his hotel room.
“To stand on stage and play two hours-worth of music and to have people respond to songs from different parts of your life and their life is just a beautiful thing.” In their two-hour setlist they dive into their back catalogue, playing hits including The Kill, This Is War and Closer To The Edge alongside more recent tracks.
Why does Jared feel their fans still gravitate towards their music? “Probably, for a lot of people, there’s either an aspirational or an emotional element that they connect to,” he responds.
“I suppose I’ve poured a lot of my hopes and dreams and fears and failures into the songs over the years.
“You hope that you connect to people in the way that I connected to other artists, whether it was Led Zeppelin or Depeche Mode, or The Cure or U2, or whatever your favourite band is out there.
“Sometimes songs can change us, they can impact us, they can save us, right? And you hope to make that connection with people.”
With a string of tour dates to come and another film in the works, it appears he has no plans to slow down any time soon.
But if he were to venture to pastures new, Jared says he would still stay in the creative world.
“I love photography, I love film. Maybe direct or something?” he muses. “I love the outdoors, I love to climb and explore. I love taking photographs of people too.
“I remember, I was in India and I just was taking photographs of people the whole time, and I really enjoyed it. Those brief interactions with people and observing the world. Become an observer, rather than being observed – that’s quite a beautiful thing.
I’ve had people... send me images, audio of me, that sound exactly like me, look exactly like me
Jared Leto on
AI’s dangers
Thirty Seconds To Mars’ album It’s The End Of The World But It’s a Beautiful Day is out now