Telisha Jones

Telisha "Nikki" Jones is a writer from Mississippi and the creator of Xania Monet, an AI-generated R&B artist that first appeared online in July 2025. Press accounts describe her as a poet who had written for years before the project, and some give her earlier work as a designer or print-business owner.

Jones writes the lyrics, which she says draw on her poetry and on events in her own life and other people's lives. She uses the generative music platform Suno to produce the vocals and music, and acts as songwriter, creative director and artist developer for the project. She has said openly that she cannot sing.

The breakout song, "How Was I Supposed to Know?", was inspired by losing her father when she was eight. It became the first known AI-artist track to enter a Billboard radio airplay chart (Adult R&B Airplay), and also appeared on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart. In September 2025 Xania Monet signed with Hallwood Media in a deal reported at about $3 million after a bidding war.

The success drew debate. In a CBS interview with Gayle King, Jones said she looks at Xania as a real person and as an AI version of herself, and the interview was widely discussed. Singer Kehlani criticised the deal in a since-deleted TikTok post, arguing that AI generators are trained on copyrighted work without credit, and commentators have questioned how US copyright treats the lyrics versus the AI-generated parts.