The 'last' song 'Now and Give' by the legendary British band 'Beatles' has created history. Because the song was nominated for a Grammy Award even though artificial intelligence or AI was used to complete it.
Released in November 2023, this song comes almost 50 years after the famous band 'The Beatles' broke up. The song uses a John Lennon recording with the melody, which has never been released before. In this recording, he played the piano and sang. Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, shared the recording with the rest of the Beatles after his death.
Using advanced machine learning software, engineers separated Lennon's vocals from the piano track. Over the years other band members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison worked on the song and eventually added their own parts. This resulted in a new Beatles song, featuring vocals and melodies from all four band members.
Although AI technology was used to complete the song 'Now and Then', it did not break Grammy guidelines. Because the policy states, 'Only human creators are eligible for this award' and music that contains 'AI AI elements' will be nominated in specific categories.
The nomination comes at a time when artists are concerned about the proper use of AI in the music industry and how it can impact creativity and originality when making music.
This Grammy nomination proves that AI can open new avenues for innovation and creativity in music production. It will also help to honor the late artists.
The use of AI in the music industry continues to grow, although not everyone supports it. However, despite the use of AI technology, the Beatles song has been accepted by fans. Because it didn't copy Lennon's voice, but clearly reproduced one of his recordings.
On the other hand, a controversial incident happened with the 2023 AI-produced song 'Heart On My Sleeve'. It was created by an artist named 'Ghostrider'. He used AI to mimic the voices of pop stars Drake and The Weeknd. For this, these two artists did not take permission. The song was submitted for two Grammy Awards. But later it was considered ineligible.
A 12-minute short film was made for the Beatles song 'Now and Then'. The film shows McCartney, Starr and Harrison working on the song together in 1994. But after Harrison's death in 2001, work on the song was shelved for a long time and was finally reworked in 2022.
At that time filmmaker Peter Jackson and his team were working on the Beatles documentary series 'Get Back'. He developed a method to distinguish Lennon's vocals from the rest. McCartney eventually recorded some bass, added star drums, mixed in Harrison's previously recorded guitar parts, and finally added strings.
“We all participated in it, so it's a real Beatles recording,” McCartney said in a documentary.
Lennon's son Sean Lennon says in the film, 'He was overwhelmed by the process, which made his father's voice part of a new Beatles song.'
He added, 'My father loved the song because he was never shy about experimenting with recording technology. I think it's really beautiful.'
The song 'Now and Then' was nominated for the 'Record of the Year' award at the Grammys. It is competing with Billie Eilish, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Charli XCX. Apart from this, the song has also been nominated in the 'Best Rock Performance' category. where it will compete with artists such as Green Day and Pearl Jam.
References: The Senate
