dearALICE is facing backlash after a “disrespectful” video response to fan complaints about their use of AI-generated album art.
The British boy band under SM Entertainment deleted the TikTok after fans slammed them for ignoring serious concerns. Their recent single album Sweet featured an album cover fully created with generative AI, sparking fan outrage.
Fans exposed the cover art showing an ice cream with the word “sweet” in the drip as AI-made. They called out dearALICE’s management for relying on AI instead of real artists.
Fans demanded the group stop using AI, but the members posted a response video widely panned as tone-deaf. In it, the members awkwardly apologize while struggling to stay serious, then abruptly promote their new single rather than addressing the controversy.
dearALICE wrote,
“Hey guys, dearALICE here.
We’ve seen the tension in the comment section, and we’ve seen the tweets on Twitter. You guys are unhappy and we wanna let you know that you are heard. We wanted to address the situation we don’t wanna undermine the severity of its um…
I think what we need to address is a few things, but I think the first thing we need to say is…. ‘Sweet’ music video is out now!!!”
The TikTok quickly gained backlash and was deleted on June 6, 2025.
dearALICE UPDATES tweeted,
“[UPDATE] 250606 #dearALICE have now deleted their controversial, disrespectful brain slop video after backlash from fans and the general public alike. It has been deleted from all platforms, however the damage has already been done.”
Fans remain outraged at the “response” video.
@nandosflowers said,
“hey dearalice, you said you see things on twitter;
your tiktok wasn’t funny and people are being serious about your repeated use of ai 🙂
sincerely, a video editor / graphic designer who can’t get work anymore x”
@haerinfelt added,
“we fought for weeks so dearALICE could be given better than ai only for them to release that bs tiktok.”
@flwrteni wrote,
“dearalice getting called out by fans for using ai & instead of taking it down or ignoring it, they post a video making fun of it… #alright”
The controversy started with fans calling out the Sweet album cover AI use in mid-May. Despite complaints, dearALICE’s management has yet to officially address the allegations.
Fans are still waiting for a serious response from dearALICE or SM Entertainment as disappointment deepens.
