- Break-ups are hard, even on bots. In a bid to rid itself of fake users, Tinder is breaking up with bots via a new verification feature. To help ease the split, the bots have turned to music for solace.
- The dating app has released a six-song EP, Bot Ballads, that features songs across all types of genres, from 80s power ballads to country to GenZ punk, all from the bots’ perspective. The EP is available for streaming on Spotify.
- The bot-breakup EP is intended to promote Tinder’s new “Face Check” feature, which requires new users to create a video selfie that helps confirm they are real, live humans, rather than bots or impostors. The feature is now required for new users in California and will soon be required in Texas before rolling out to the rest of the U.S.
Each song on the EP is told from the bot’s perspective and tells the story of a digital being learning to come to terms with human rejection. Song titles include, “Didn’t Know I Had a Heart … Until You Broke It,” (Country), “You Ctrl Alt Deleted Me,” (80’s Power Ballad) and “Left My Love Buffering” (90’s R&B). Hidden in each song is a promo code for a free week of the app’s premium Tinder Gold service.
Tinder is promoting the feature and the EP with a retro-style ad reminiscent of the ads music companies used to create for compilation albums. The ad lists the tracks from the EP and cuts from the accompanying music videos while a voiceover explains the premise of the songs. “Because robot breakup songs are music to your human ears,” says the voiceover. “Thanks, Face Check.”
