The Beatles Bring John Lennon’s Voice Back to Life with AI

A Long and Winding Road Indeed!

More than 50 years after their breakup, The Beatles have released their final song — and used AI to bring John Lennon’s voice back to life.

In an announcement published on their official website, The Beatles — or their two remaining members — suggested that the band’s final song “Now and Then” is a follow-up to Paul McCartney’s admission earlier this year that Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, had provided him with demos from his former bandmate that included the new and final track.

Kiboshed

Recorded before Lennon’s murder in 1980, the tape contained unreleased material that ended up on the first part of the Beatles’ “Anthology” series, including the tracks “Real Love” and “Free as a Bird.” When it came to “Now and Then,” however, the late George Harrison was not on board.

“George didn’t like it,” McCartney told Q Magazine back in 1997. “The Beatles being a democracy, we didn’t do it.”

More than 20 years later, the knighted Beatle admitted to the New Yorker that Harrison had called the song “f****** rubbish.”

A New AI Solution

With new AI tech that was able to extricate Lennon’s voice from a “ropey little bit of cassette” and get it “pure,” as McCartney told the BBC, it seems like he finally has.

All the same, the Beatle said some AI applications give him pause.

“People will say to me, ‘Oh, yeah, there’s a track where John’s singing one of my songs,’ and it’s just AI, you know?” he told the British public broadcaster over the summer. “It’s kind of scary but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.”

Summary

More than 50 years after breaking up, The Beatles have released their final song, “Now and Then,” using AI technology to bring John Lennon’s voice back to life. The song was recorded before Lennon’s murder in 1980 and was part of a tape of unreleased material that Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, had given to Paul McCartney in the 1990s. George Harrison had previously expressed his dislike for the song, but McCartney was determined to finish it. With new AI technology, Lennon’s voice was extricated from a cassette tape and remastered, achieving a more pure sound. McCartney has expressed both excitement and caution about AI applications in music.

Source: The Beatles Just Released Their Final Song That Resurrects John Lennon’s Voice With AI