Artificial intelligence technology helps the Beatles complete a new record featuring John Lennon

Speaking to the BBC, former Beatles member Paul McCartney, soon turning 81, said: “It was a demo that John (Lennon) recorded and we just finished.” McCartney did not name the unreleased song, but according to the BBC it is likely a 1978 composition by Lennon called “Now And Then”.

The legendary Beatles – consisting of members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – broke up in 1970 and each went on to have solo careers. After that, the Beatles never reunited or produced other records as a band.

Lennon was assassinated and died in New York (USA) in 1980 at the age of 40, while Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001, at the age of 58. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney are still active as solo artists. .

Lennon recorded various music for McCartney a year before his death. The demos were on a cassette tape given to him by Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, in 1994. Two of the songs, “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love”, were written by the songwriter and producer. Beatles producer Jeff Lynne released in 1995 and 1996. Many attempts were made to do the same with “Now And Then” but the project was abandoned due to noise surrounding the demo.

McCartney – previously mentioned that he wanted to finish the song – said AI technology gave him a new opportunity to do so. He explored the technology’s potential when he teamed up with filmmaker Peter Jackson on the 2021 “The Beatles: Get Back” documentary series, in which AI was used to separate Lennon’s voice from the piano.

“When we created the final Beatles record, it was a demo that John had (and) we were able to take John’s voice and make it pure through this AI,” said Paul McCartney. Then we can shuffle the record, as you normally would.”

Before that, McCartney experimented with AI. Last year, he gave a two-hour gig at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, playing Beatles classics in front of a crowd of 100,000. In it, McCartney also had a virtual duet with Lennon on the song “I’ve Got a Feeling” from the Beatles’ last album – “Let It Be”.

Last month, British singer Sting warned that “protecting our human resources against AI” will be a big battle for musicians in the years to come. And indeed, the use of AI in music is the subject of industry debate, with some accusing copyright abuse and others praising its power.

Music streaming app Deezer recently announced that it will be rolling out a tool to detect and tag songs with AI-generated vocal clones in order to protect the revenue of real artists.

Recent AI tools have allowed anyone to recreate the sound of famous artists’ vocals, from the Beatles to Oasis. However, McCartney accepts the use of new technologies. “It’s a bit scary but exciting because that’s the future. We’ll have to see where that leads,” he said.