Paul McCartney Reveals AI Was Used To Help Complete An Old Demo That Will Be Released As The Beatles 'Final Song' Later This Year

Consequence of Sound- A dozen studio albums and over 60 singles isn’t enough — Sir Paul McCartney is taking advantage of society’s advancements since The Beatles broke up, using AI to complete a decades-old demo that’ll be released in 2023 as the band’s “final” song.

Though he didn’t name the song in question, McCartney shared a few details about the track Tuesday morning on Radio 4 Today (via The Guardian), confirming that it’s finished and will be released this year. It’s expected to be derived from a 1978 John Lennon recording called “Now and Then,” which was included on cassettes he made shortly before his death labeled “For Paul.”

I'll be honest - when I first read headlines about Paul McCartney using AI technology to complete an old Beatles demo this morning, I groaned and cringed and facepalmed right away.

Don't get me wrong, I love the old Lennon demos that the remaining Beatles completed in the 90s (which I once blogged about HERE) but the "AI" component of this story just gave me the heebie-jeebies. 

I think the current AI vocal craze is a neat/funny thing to hear stuff like Mr. Krabs singing Billie Jean….

….but from all the "covers" I've heard on YouTube, AI vocal recreation is NOT on a level that sounds realistic or human yet. I'm sure it'll get there one day, but right now it completely lacks any emotion and soul, and very obviously spits out a computerized version of whatever you put into it. 

Take this Kurt Cobain "cover" of Soundgarden's 'Black Hole Sun' for example….

It's terrible. It sounds like Kurt is trapped in a box of industrial fans that are turning his vocal chords into that of a cyborg. It's like shrinkwrapping Chris Cornell in Kurt Cobain - we can still see through and know what's underneath.

stephen a smith voice

HOWEVAH

When I read further into McCartney's use of AI technology here, I think I changed my mind….

The idea came about after Emile de la Rey, the dialogue editor on Peter Jackson’s docuseries Get Back, used custom AI to recognize each Beatle’s voice in the footage so it could be separated from extraneous background noise: “[Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette,” McCartney said. “We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine: ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.’”

He continued: “So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had and we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway.”

So, despite the craze of phony AI tracks, this “new” song won’t use the technology to copy Lennon’s voice; it’ll just make what recordings already exist all the more useful. The result will mark The Beatles’ first “new” material in 25 years.

False alarm, everyone. Put down the pitchforks. This use of AI actually sounds okay to me. 

They're not recreating John Lennon's voice with the technology here - they're just removing the background noise on the demo so Lennon's voice is isolated. That's….pretty cool actually. 

You can listen to the current demo of 'Now and Then' (which is believed to be the song being spoken about here) below….

I'd assume Paul added some guitar/bass to the mix (and probably re-recorded the piano) - and hopefully Ringo was brought in to lay down some percussion. I'd be outraged otherwise. You can't call it a 'Beatles' song without Ringo having a hand in it.

The track is set to release later this year according to McCartney, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for the new 'Beatles' soon! 

It'll be great to see em on the charts next to Doja Cat and Bad Bunny.