Grammys pull HUGEL’s hit from consideration over AI. He asks them to show where the machine is

HUGEL is asking the Recording Academy to take another look at Movin’ To The Sun, the track he released with Hungarian producer Imael Angel and Ultra Naté. The Academy pulled it from Grammy consideration over concerns about artificial intelligence, and HUGEL wants to know which elements of the finished recording led to that decision.

The Academy’s decision and the artist’s response were reported by EDM.com.

The song’s story began in April 2026. Imael Angel wrote the lyrics and part of the melody, ran them through the Suno generator and posted the demo I’m Moving to the Sun, which quickly spread online. HUGEL took that version as his starting point, and the new vocal was recorded by Ultra Naté — last year the two reworked her anthem “Free”.

What HUGEL showed in the studio

Responding to claims that the track was entirely AI-generated, HUGEL posted a video walkthrough of the session on Instagram. According to him, only a few fragments were lifted from the demo and everything else was rebuilt: drums from the Splice sample library, a Serum bass preset layered over an analog Moog part, pads and keys from plugins, Keyscape piano, strings to build tension and a brand-new drop.

“Our actual drop is completely different from the original version. We essentially reproduced everything from scratch,” HUGEL explained.

Artificial intelligence, he insists, remained in the track in just one place: it was used to blend Ultra Naté’s studio vocal with the voice from the original demo to add texture.

“The AI was just used to do the layer of the vocal, and everything in this session was human made,” says HUGEL.

What the Grammy rules say

The artist’s team does not deny that AI was part of the track’s history, but insists the release is first and foremost human work. HUGEL produced it with Maximilian Riehl and Loris Cimino in Ableton Live, re-recording instrumental parts, programming drums and reworking the arrangement. By HUGEL’s count, about 95% of the finished recording is conventional production and human-made elements.

Technically, the rulebook for the 69th Grammy Awards does not exclude a track like this. Music with AI elements is eligible as long as the human contribution is “meaningful and more than de minimis” and applies to the specific category the work is entered in; a fully AI-generated work is not eligible in any category. The first round of voting runs from October 12 to October 22, and the nominations will be announced on November 16.

For HUGEL, the stakes are far from trivial. “Movin’ To The Sun” became his fastest-rising release: No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 1 on Billboard’s US dance radio airplay chart and the top spot on Beatport. The track is featured on his debut album Twenty One.

The debate over where the tool ends and the author begins has already reached the charts and the courts this year: the major labels agreed to let only music made mostly by humans into the charts, and a court in Munich ruled that Suno had trained on other people’s songs without permission. HUGEL’s case brings that debate to a track that played on the world’s biggest dance floors all summer — and puts a simple question to the Academy: how much human is enough?

Earlier we wrote about how HUGEL released “One More Round”, the single that came out after “Movin’ To The Sun.”