The Beatles have recently released their latest single “Now and Then”, their first single in the past 50 years. “Now and Then” marks a special point in the band’s career’s serving as their final song. Traditionally the Beatles were known for the speed at which their songs were written and released, with lyrics being written on the back of restaurant menus and airplane tickets. In contrast, however, “Now and Then” spent 45 years in the making with the original demo coming from a house recording John Lennon made back in 1977. While the song was meant to be completed in 1995 for “The Beatles Anthology” it was shelved due to technical limitations at the time. The original 1977 recording had too much background noise coming from the TV and piano which made it hard to isolate John Lennon’s vocals. Motivated to finish the song, the two remaining Beatles came together to record the song with newly found technology which would help to work around the quality of the original demo.
Paul McCartney was especially enthusiastic about recording the song
, the enthusiasm coming from him wanting to do something with John Lennon in his house one last time. A controversial aspect of the song was how AI was used to deliver the final product. A common misconception many people seem to believe is that AI was used to replicate John Lennon’s vocals, that is however false. In an interview with Virgin Radio UK, Giles Martin, one of the producers in the song, explains the AI was used to learn John Lennon’s voice and separate it from the background noise. Giles describes it as “Deconstructing a cake” which was quite tricky due to the age of the original recording. In another interview with BBC Radio’s 4, Paul McCartney adds “We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. So then we could mix the record as you would normally do, you know, so it gives you some sort of leeway. So there’s a good side to it and then a scary side. And we’ll just have to see where that leads”. The use of AI in the song isn’t anything immoral, instead it is the use of modern technology in the music industry which the Beatles are well known for, going as far back as their 1967 record “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and the use of Dolby. While this is officially the Beatles last song their influence will live on, not only in the music industry but also in the minds of music fans all around the world.
Sources: The Beatles “Now and Then,” Apple/Capitol 2023
By, Fran Vega, Staff Writer