AI rap song "Lai Guoren" ("Been There") surpasses 124 million views across the internet; creator Zhe FILM has historical figures travel back in time to comfort contemporary people

"Laiguoren" (Old Timer), an AI rap song created by "Zhe FILM" (real name Wang Kunzhe), has recently flooded social media. As of 21:00 on October 22, it had accumulated approximately 124 million views across all platforms, making it a phenomenal music work this year. The identity of the creator of "Laiguoren," the narrative direction and cultural characteristics contained in its lyrics, as well as the emotional resonance and social response the work has aroused, all make this song rich in interpretive space. The reverse time-travel of Du Fu, Su Shi and others: a spiritual exchange between traditional culture and contemporary netizens. "Laiguoren" features ten historical or mythological figures: Du Fu, Su Shi, Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, Goujian, Sun Wukong, Cao Cao, Li Bai, Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi—all household names to Chinese people. In this four-minute-and-forty-second song, each figure is allotted only a few dozen seconds, yet they succeed in moving listeners' hearts. In the era when online literature and web dramas flourished, traveling back to ancient times, encountering historical figures, and rewriting the course of history and the fates of characters through fictional means was a narrative mode much loved by young people. In time-travel stories, the information advantage brought from modern society helps ancients solve problems and overcome hardships, giving young people a sense of their own value—this is why the time-travel genre has still not been eliminated. As AI gradually matures and becomes widespread, it is no longer difficult for creators to use new technological means to realistically recreate images of ancient figures. But greatly unlike common time-travel stories, "Laiguoren" has ancient and mythological figures achieve a reverse time-travel—in the work, they use their own arduous experiences and extraordinary life wisdom to influence and intervene in the life views of people today. What the creator "Zhe FILM" has done is more like building a bridge: through the bridge of "Laiguoren," contemporary netizens have had a spiritual exchange with the ancients that breaks through the barriers of time and space. The realization of this emotional resonance benefits from a neat and ingenious adjustment of narrative perspective. In the past, when people paid attention to poets such as Du Fu and Su Shi, they mostly started from their works and were intoxicated by their verses; when they admired heroes such as Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, they were mostly struck by their lofty ambitions and great achievements; and when they liked mythological figures such as Sun Wukong, it was out of envy for their ability to soar to the heavens and dive into the earth, to be capable of anything. But in "Laiguoren," they all turn their gaze to the troubles and trivialities, anxieties and predicaments faced by contemporary people, comforting those listeners who may be in a low period. The great figures who have left their names through the ages thus collectively turn, in one song, to care for ordinary people, dissolving status and distance and leaving only sincere, frank confession and communication. Such works are relatively rare, and the spiritual impact they bring carries weight. The figures in "Laiguoren" all have their own places in the coordinates of traditional culture. Their tortuous lives and legendary experiences, and the classic works and moving stories they left behind, are also important nourishment through which traditional culture continually inspires people. Therefore, the popularity of "Laiguoren" can be seen as contemporary people having found a new way to draw motivation and energy from traditional culture. Comfort and warmth like that of family: close to "warm realism." The entirely new orientation of the narrative perspective in "Laiguoren" breaks through rigid creative thinking, and the plain yet intense emotions infused into the lyrics have an effect that goes straight to the heart. Between the lines of this song, centered on keywords such as "equality, companionship, comfort and encouragement," the narration is unfolded gently in the voices of the ancients: "I am an old timer; a thousand years ago I carried the same heart as you; the nights you've endured, the words you've swallowed, the battles you haven't won—I have a share in them all"; "I am not here to teach you, I am here to accompany you on this journey; you are not alone, ahead of you there is a lamp I left." This way of speaking turns those names written in history books, textbooks and classic readings into kindly elders, calm friends and soulmates who understand without words, together providing comfort and warmth akin to that of family. This song is an active move toward "warm realism." In the age of social media, people's lists of followed accounts and contact lists may contain hundreds or thousands of names, yet people often express loneliness in the information age—a loneliness made up of unspoken bitterness, the desolation of having no one to listen, and the restraint required to keep emotions stable. After not disturbing others and facing problems alone has become the posture of contemporary life, the lost parts within people's hearts need to be filled, and at this moment those ancients who have "traveled through time" soothe contemporary people's inner selves through "Laiguoren." Thus, through this song people gain a certain emotional compensation. People can find their own cultural bloodline and emotional connections in these figures—connections related not only to surnames, regional culture, poetic works and myths and legends, but also to people's inner totems. As "Zhe FILM," the author of "Laiguoren," said, his original intention in writing these ancient and mythological figures into the song "was not to act as a life mentor or give standard answers, but to provide an emotional outlet." He is willing for the work's function to be a tree hollow rather than a cure: "A cure means telling you how to recover, but what I do is more like a tree hollow. Often when people are in hardship, what they need most is not an answer, but to be understood." AI music breaks out of its niche: "everyone can create" still requires deep cultivation. In relevant reports, "Zhe FILM's" identity as a worker in the new literature and art community has been mentioned many times. He has been included in the Hubei Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles' talent pool of outstanding young and middle-aged literary and art workers, and was once named "leader of Hubei's new literature and art community." Before "Laiguoren" went viral, his "ancients speak up" series had already won the affection of many netizens. In 2025, musician Wang Bo, who also belongs to the new literary and art community, created the viral hit "Mei Chuxi," dubbed a "magical, brainwashing earworm," but this song did not involve AI; more than a year later, a large number of AI music hits emerged. They were popular for a time and produced quite a few representative works, such as the AI songs "Mengyin" and "Snow in Qinghe County," created with an anti-stereotypical Wu Dalang as the protagonist, and works using "ancients empathizing with contemporary people from a first-person perspective" as their creative entry point, which became the first wave of AI music creation. As the first phenomenal work, one that can even be said to have set off a wave of AI music creation, "Laiguoren" has another value: it eased the audience's defensive psychology toward AI works. Although it bears AI traces in its visuals and vocal style, the song's popularity confirms that when a work's emotional elements and resonant power reach a certain magnitude, the AI technology that assists in its creation can recede into the background, providing strong support for the emergence of a good work. In both look and substance, "Laiguoren" has more or less bridged the AI gap between creators and audiences, and partly resolved the difficulties faced by AI-assisted music works in terms of originality ethics, copyright ownership, and revenue distribution. The AI short drama "Armed Into Song" raised viewers' acceptance of AI short dramas, and the AI film "Sanxingdui: Future Past" obtained a public screening permit and landed in cinemas. If these two works mark progress in AI in the film and television field, then "Laiguoren" attempts to rewrite the public's acceptance of AI at the level of pop music and even pop culture. If AI music can next take "Laiguoren" as its starting point and enter a new stage of creation, then a new era of mass literature and art in which "everyone can create" will continue to bring surprises. The significance of "Laiguoren" to AI music is like the significance of "Northeasterners Are All Living Lei Feng" and "Mice Love Rice" to internet music back then. The dissemination path and viral logic of AI music are roughly similar to those of internet music, both relying on internet platforms to achieve viral spread. But in terms of creative stance, production methods, and value exploration, because the times are different, AI music has more possibilities. Compared with the twenty-year development trajectory of internet music going viral, AI music is still in an experimental and exploratory stage, still on the margins of popular music. "Laiguoren" counts as an AI music work that has broken out of its niche, but whether AI music will occupy more mainstream platforms and be loved by the whole people still requires AI music to continuously take root in the soil of culture and life, produce more works that resonate deeply with people, and thereby prove its vitality and energy.