The Beatles’ return to the Grammys was made with the help of artificial intelligence.
“Now and Then” is nominated for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance at the 2025 Grammy Awards, making it the first nominated song to use AI in its production.
The song used AI to clean up old demo recordings of John Lennon singing and playing piano, recorded in the late 1970s, as well as a George Harrison guitar track, recorded six years before his death in 2001.
“To me, this is a good example of how AI can work in our current environment,” Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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The Beatles’ final song, “Now and Then,” featuring contributions from the late John Lennon and George Harrison, was nominated for two Grammys. (Apple Corps Ltd)
Mason was careful to clarify that a new academy rule allowing AI-assisted music to be submitted to the Grammy Awards states that the use of AI must enhance rather than replace the work of humans. In this case, he says, the AI was “really like an editing tool” that allowed the Beatles to isolate a John Lennon vocal recording from the late ’70s “that may have been previously unusable.”
“When we view AI as a tool for artists and not a substitute, people are more open to AI becomes an integral part of creative work,” Eric Burgess, CEO and co-founder of Credtent, an organization that helps creators protect their work from unauthorized use for AI, told Fox News Digital. “It’s like using Photoshop to clean up an image . We’ve been doing this kind of careful work on creative outcomes for some time.
“To me, this is a good example of how AI can work in our current environment.”
“There is also a huge space between using generative AI for ideation and finding creative synergy with AI tools and relaxing and just letting an AI do its thing This last point is deeply unsatisfying for an artist, but what motivates the person creating the work is usually the telltale sign of their tendency to slack off.
“Positioned as ‘the last Beatles song’, people are indeed not only more forgiving, but also eager to listen to the last song from a band that released their last song half a century ago”, Andreas Welsch, founder and chief AI strategist at Intelligence. Briefing, said.
Andreas Welsch, founder and chief AI strategist at Intelligence Briefing, said people are more forgiving of the Beatles using AI. (Getty Images)
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“This is the purpose for which AI was used (to enhance and restore John Lennon’s voice) while preserving the integrity of the band and the sound, not to use John Lennon’s voice to sing the lyrics of a rap song.”
When the song was first announced in early 2023, fans were outraged by Paul McCartney’s mention of using AI on a song, particularly with John Lennon’s vocals.
In June, he told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show that they were able to use technology similar to that used by Peter Jackson. Documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back”, when the director and his team were able to “unmix” the film’s soundtrack, isolating the instruments, vocals and individual voices of the group members, thereby bringing to light previously unseen conversations.
“And he was able to extract John’s voice from a little piece of tape where John’s voice and a piano were – he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘It’s a voice, It’s a guitar, lose the guitar voice.’ And he did it,” McCartney said.
Paul McCartney caused a stir among fans when he mentioned that AI was used to create the Beatles’ latest song. (Gotham/GC Images via Getty Images)
“So when we started making what would be the last Beatles record… it was a demo that John had – which we’ve been working on and just finished, it’s coming out this year,” he added. “We were able to take John’s voice and make it pure with this AI. So we could mix the record like you normally would. This gives you some sort of wiggle room. So, there’s a good side and then a scary side, and we’ll just have to see where that goes. »
The mention of AI caused a stir among fans who believed Lennon’s vocals had been faked.
McCartney later clarified his comments on social media.
“We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about this,” he shared on X (formerly Twitter). “I can’t say much at this point, but to be clear, nothing was created artificially or synthetically. It’s all real and we’re all playing on it. We’ve been cleaning up some existing recordings – a process that’s been going on for ages years.”
Ringo Starr has backed his bandmate, telling Rolling Stone that they would “never” simulate John Lennon’s vocals with AI. (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage)
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Starr also spoke about the song, telling Rolling Stone the group would “never” pretend Lennon’s voice.
“AI opens up new possibilities for restoring other songs, which music lovers will appreciate,” Welsch said. “Similar to sampling, artists can use AI to generate new samples or songs with significant AI influence.”
He added: “As the technology to generate entire songs evolves, songs can be hyperpersonalized based on the listener’s individual preferences and styles. This will open the way to new and unprecedented possibilities. However, as in the Drake-style AI-generated song / Week of 2023, copyright law must evolve to clarify rights and ownership.”
In 2023, an anonymous producer named Ghostwriter released an AI song, “Heart on My Sleeve”, which falsified the vocals of Drake and the weekend.
Drake and The Weeknd’s vocals were faked for the song “Heart on My Sleeve.” (Getty Images)
“Heart on My Sleeve” was submitted in two categories for the Grammys: best rap song and song of the year.
“I knew right away, as soon as I heard this record, that this was going to be something that we had to grapple with from an Academy perspective, but also from a music community perspective and from industry,” Mason told the New York Times.
And while praising Ghostwriter’s technology and efforts, he later clarified in a social media post that “this version of ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ using AI voice modeling, which sounds like Drake and The Weeknd , is not eligible for the Grammy Awards.
Ghostwriter told Billboard that he was still eligible for the categories he submitted the song for, but a representative for the Recording Academy told the outlet that the song was eligible in songwriting-related categories, but only via a resubmitted version of “Heart on My Sleeve”. which removed AI-generated voice elements. He ultimately received no nominations for that year’s ceremony.
The song that doctored Drake and The Weeknd’s vocals was submitted to the Grammy Awards after their AI vocals were removed. (Neil Mockford/Alex Huckle; Mondadori Wallet)
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Given that The Beatles earned two nominations for “Now and Then” and its AI-enhanced audio, Burgess said, “For some artists, it’s going to encourage them to dig deeper into how they can use AI tools to create good music… and they will push the limits beyond the tricks invented by the Beatles studio technicians. This is of course mainly the motivation of people who make commercial music.
“Musicians who create music for the pleasure of composing and performing will likely continue to avoid using AI or will only use it when they absolutely need to do something that is not possible without it. ‘AI,’ he added. “Artistic musicians don’t want to lose the joy and experience of the creative act just to get to the creative product faster.”
Welsch said: “As with other creative art forms, there are concerns about the use of AI in music creation. Who owns the copyrights, who infringes them, and is training and use of AI fair use of the original work? On a human level, there is concern that the creative skills of humans will be taken over by AI and the last strengths will be replaced by machines. »
When the song was released last year, McCartney and Starr shared how special it was to reunite with the group one last time.
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In a statement, McCartney said: “There it is, John’s voice, crystal clear. It’s quite moving. And we’re all playing on it, it’s a real Beatles recording. In 2023, I’m still working on The Beatles’ music. Beatles and I’m about to release a new song that the public hasn’t heard, I think that’s something exciting.”
Starr said: “It was the closest we’d ever get to seeing him in the room again, so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know. It’s far away. “
In a statement about the Beatles thanked the Recording Academy for the nominations.
The Beatles have 23 Grammy nominations and seven wins, but have never won record of the year. (AP Images)
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Throughout their career, the group has earned 23 nominations and seven wins. In 2014, they won the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
They have been nominated for Record of the Year three times before, but have never won the award.
“As a huge Beatles fan, I’m excited to hear something new, but is the song really going to win? I don’t think so,” Burgess said. “They prefer to reward contemporary artists, like Beyoncé who tried on a cowboy hat last year.
“Nominating the Beatles is like nominating Meryl Streep for best actress at the Oscars. She always gets nominated because she’s Meryl Streep, but she doesn’t usually win. But it brings these industry titans to the ceremony awards ceremony, right?”