ABOUT

Concept:
Take the Lead is a four-minute music video produced by Particle6, released in March 2026 to coincide with the Academy Awards. The video features Tilly Norwood — Particle6's AI-generated actress — performing a pop-meets-musical-theatre original song, with Norwood cast as an A-list star navigating fame, identity, and the noise surrounding AI in the creative industries.
The video was inspired by an essay written by Eline van der Velden, CEO of Particle6 and Xicoia, reflecting on the industry conversation that had followed Tilly Norwood's debut. Rather than stepping back from that conversation, Particle6 stepped further into it — using music, humour, and spectacle to reframe the debate around AI performance and argue for a more collaborative vision of what AI and human creativity could achieve together.

Execution:
Take the Lead was produced by a team of 18 people, a fact Particle6 placed front and centre in the video itself, opening with the on-screen declaration: "The following production was made by 18 real humans." The credits spanned executive producer, director, production designer, costume designer, creative prompter, creative technologist, comedy writer, editor, production assistant, production coordinator, and actor.
That last credit was significant. Eline van der Velden herself performed Tilly Norwood's on-screen performance, with AI post-production layered on top — a new technique that placed human movement and creative intent at the heart of the character's performance. The music was generated using Suno, with the video created using a suite of AI tools combined with Particle6's proprietary creative process.
The result placed Norwood in a series of comic set pieces — performing at a stadium concert, appearing on talk shows, riding a inflatable flamingo through the clouds — with pink flamingos as a recurring visual motif throughout.

Results:
Take the Lead was covered across major international entertainment press on release, including Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, generating significant reach at one of the most high-profile moments in the entertainment calendar. The deliberate Oscars timing ensured the video landed at the centre of the industry conversation around AI at its most visible annual moment.
The video offered the first glimpse into what Particle6 describes as the Tillyverse — an evolving entertainment world where AI characters live, interact and work — and was positioned as a precursor to Tilly Norwood's official AI acting debut. In doing so, it reframed Norwood not as a provocation but as the centrepiece of an expanding creative universe, built by humans and AI together.