The Beatles’ ‘final new song’ revived by AI

The last new song by the legendary British band The Beatles was released on Thursday (local time). Universal Music confirmed, “The final track titled ‘Now and Then,’ featuring all members of The Beatles, has been unveiled. This marks 27 years since the release of ‘Real Love’ back in 1996." Within 16 hours of its release on The Beatles’ official YouTube channel, the song amassed over 4.25 million views.

The newly released song, ‘Now and Then,’ originated from an incomplete demo recorded by the late John Lennon (1940-1980) in 1977, and it was realized through the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. ‘Now and Then’ stands as a composition by Lennon following The Beatles’ dissolution, after his wife Yoko Ono (90) sent a demo tape of the unfinished song to Paul McCartney (81), Ringo Starr (83), and George Harrison (1943-2001) in 1994. Although the surviving members diligently collaborated to finalize and release the song, their efforts were hindered by poor sound quality, specifically issues where the piano accompaniment in certain sections occasionally overpowered Lennon’s vocals.

During the production of the documentary ‘Beatles: Get Back,’ director Peter Jackson, known for his 2005 film ‘King Kong,’ discovered a technological solution through AI to address this issue. Jackson employed innovative technology to categorize instruments, vocals, and spoken sounds within the recording scenes of ‘Let It Be.’ This same technology was utilized for ‘Now and Then’ to successfully isolate and extract the piano accompaniment and John Lennon’s vocals.

On Thursday, a 12-minute documentary showcasing the creation process of the new song was also released. McCartney mentioned, “The computer emitted a brief beep, and then I heard Lennon’s voice, crystal clear. With the incorporation of contributions from other members, a genuine Beatles song came to life.”


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