Quavo and Victoria Monét are giving a viral 2026 AI trend a real-life twist, recreating Quavo and Takeoff’s iconic “Hotel Lobby” COLORS performance together. The new clip places the two artists in the same bright orange setup used by Unc & Phew in 2022, complete with the hanging microphone, but this time there is no AI involved.
The recreation arrives on October 1, just hours before both artists release new projects at midnight. Quavo is preparing to drop QRÖMELIFE, his third solo album, while Monét is set to release Frequency of Love, making the COLORS-inspired performance a perfectly timed crossover between two major releases.
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For the new video, Quavo and Monét stand side by side against the unmistakable orange backdrop, trading gestures and energy as they recreate the visual language of the original.
The recreation comes directly after a wave of AI-generated versions of the same performance took over social media. Throughout September, creators began using AI tools and editing templates to replace Quavo and Takeoff with celebrities, fictional characters, athletes and even cats, while retaining the original movements, audio and orange COLORS setting.
Among the versions circulating online were edits featuring characters from Suits, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, as well as soccer stars Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham. The stripped-back production of the original made the format particularly easy to reproduce: two performers, one microphone and a flat background were enough to make almost any pair appear to be trading verses.
Quavo himself helped redirect attention toward the original performance, reposting the untouched COLORS video on September 23 with the caption “The Original.”
The original “Hotel Lobby” COLORS performance arrived in June 2022 as part of a Black Music Month series produced with an all-Black crew and Motown. Quavo and Takeoff, performing as Unc & Phew, delivered the track from their joint album Only Built For Infinity Links, with Quavo handling the ad-libs while Takeoff delivered his verse.
More than four years later, the video has surpassed 120 million YouTube views, making it one of COLORS’ most-watched sessions.
For Quavo, the real-world recreation also arrives at the launch of QRÖMELIFE, his follow-up to 2023’s Rocket Power. Executive-produced by Pharrell Williams, the album features Future, A$AP Rocky, Justin Timberlake, Offset, T.I. and others, with several sessions recorded in Paris, including work at Louis Vuitton headquarters.
Victoria Monét, meanwhile, is releasing Frequency of Love, her 22-track follow-up to the Grammy-winning Jaguar II. The album includes previously released songs such as “Let Me,” “Reach Out” and “Juicy,” alongside collaborations with Bruno Mars, SZA, Bryson Tiller, Leon Thomas, Chlöe and Lucky Daye, as well as an appearance from her daughter Hazel.
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