The Beatles Come Together for ‘Last Record’ Using AI, Paul McCartney Says

McCartney said Hollywood director Peter Jackson, who directed the 2021 documentary epic “The Beatles: Get Back,” used AI technology to isolate the voice of John Lennon from an old demo tape.

“He was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropy little bit of cassette where it had John’s voice and a piano,” McCartney said. “We were able to take John’s voice and make it pure through AI and you were able to mix the record as you would normally do.”

McCartney didn’t reveal what the song was, but the BBC said it was likely to be a 1978 Lennon composition called “Now and Then.”

The prolific Lennon and McCartney songwriting partnership, alongside fellow Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, produced 12 studio albums and dozens of hit singles between 1962 and 1970. The band split in 1970 and would never again record together as a quartet. Each member went on to enjoy their own solo successes, with McCartney forming the band Wings in 1971. Lennon died in 1980 after being shot outside his New York City apartment building.

Formed in the northern English city of Liverpool in 1960, the group would go on to become the most commercially successful band in history, selling hundreds of millions of records and influencing generations of artists.

This isn’t the first time McCartney has employed technology to bring back his childhood friend and former bandmate. During a headline show at last year’s Glastonbury music festival, McCartney used video and audio clips to perform a live duet of “I’ve Got a Feeling” with Lennon. The original recording of that song was taken from the band’s last live performance, on the roof of their record company’s headquarters in London in 1969.

As early as 2012, a 2-D video projection of U.S. hip-hop artist 2Pac, who died in 1996, was used in a performance with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival. The projection of the West Coast rapper used a variation of a visual effect that was discovered in the 19th century, known as Pepper’s Ghost. 

“What’s up Coachella?” 2Pac said as he appeared on stage to thousands of shocked fans.

McCartney said the use of AI in musical artistry was both exciting and scary.

“It’s something we’re all tackling at the moment trying to deal with what it means,” he said.

“When we came to make what will be the last Beatles record it was a demo that John had that we worked on and we’ve just finished it up. We’ll see where that leads.”

In April, Spotify Chief Executive Daniel Ek discussed on a call with investors and analysts the potential impact of AI on the music industry. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it in technology, how fast innovation and progress is happening in all the really both cool and scary things that people are doing with AI,” he said.

A song created using generative AI replicating Drake and The Weeknd’s vocals was pulled from streaming platforms in April following a copyright infringement complaint from .

Write to Gareth Vipers at [email protected]