Now and Then, a new song from The Beatles, has already been released, as we told you a few days ago. We have to spend at least a few seconds analyzing it, because the group broke up in 1970, John Lennon was murdered in 1980, and George Harrison died in 2001. Since these three time milestones happened, 53, 43, and 22 years have passed, in in this order. v Initially, they should make it impossible to publish new material from one of the most transcendent bands in the history of music.

Even though I’m not a fan of The Beatles (they broke up before I was born, and when I was an ignorant kid I didn’t pay much attention to them because it was “old music”… well, growing up), his music and of course I recognize his invaluable contribution to the history of music. Ever since the Now and Then completion project was announced, I’ve been waiting for it with open arms. And not only so that you can listen to the latest song from The Beatles, also for being able to assess the use of artificial intelligence.

Since then, artificial intelligence has played a key role in the production of Now and Then It was necessary to “separate” John Lennon’s voice in the demo he recorded at home from the sound of the piano.. It has been tried before, but proved impossible. However, the evolution of artificial intelligence was concerned demixing (separating the various elements of the recording), allowed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to try again, this time with the invaluable cooperation of Peter Jackson. You can better understand the complexity by watching the video posted about the process. Below, at minute 3:00, you can hear the audio of the original recording

As you can see, they add up the presence of a piano (McCartney claims that at one point it almost sounded like Lennon was “hiding” his voice behind the piano on the recording.) and background noise. It was a home recording, a demo to be worked on in the future, plans that suddenly evaporated on the fateful day when Mark David Chapman was waiting for him at the foot of the Dakota building and ended his life.

In 1995, members of The Beatles who were still alive tried to restore Lennon’s voice from this demo, but it was not possible. However, They made enough progress on the project for George Harrison to record his part of the song which they intended to publish. A recording that survived after his death in 2001 because McCartney and Starr did not give up on the Now and Then restoration project.

Peter Jackson out in 2021 (it was originally supposed to be out in 2020, but the pandemic delayed its production and release) The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary in three parts (we’re talking about Peter Jackson, it’s a trademark of the house) highly recommended and which you can find on Disney+. And as a result of the collaboration between the director and the two band members, the seed of the project sprouted again to recover Now and They, a project to which Jackson contributed his knowledge and technology to perform demixing and extract Lennon’s voice from the model. Result? You can see it at 7:00 in the video:

The result is simply spectacular. The process of restoring John Lennon’s voice from recording was complex, but its perfection is undeniable. And thanks to material recorded by George Harrison before his death, and of course today’s recordings by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Technology has made it possible to reunite, this time for what seems to be the last time, The Beatles in the recording studio. I remember again, more than 50 years after their separation and 43 and 22 after the deaths of John Lennon and Ringo Starr. Steve Jobs attached great importance to the convergence of art and technology and was a music lover, so despite the controversy that Apple Inc. faced with Apple Records for some time (remember they made peace with the arrival of The Beatles to the iTunes Music Store), I would point to Now and Then as a perfect example.

With the song already on sale in various media and formats, a also available on major streaming services, everyone already has an opinion on that. Personally, I think it’s beyond what one would expect. It’s a faithful reflection of Lennon at his finest and is very coherent with the rest of The Beatles’ compositions. It’s not their best song, it’s not in the top 5 or top 10, but it contains the spirit of the band, which I think is the most valuable. If you haven’t heard it yet, I recommend you do so at least once.

If the result was so positive and the artificial intelligence was so effective in recreating Lennon’s voice from the original recording, why am I talking about highlights and shadows? Because artificial intelligence is not only present in the production process Now and then, It was also used in the production of the official music video for the song. And well, you can watch the video below to make up your own mind:

Posted a few hours ago on YouTube It is already approaching four and a half million views, and in the first approach to it, we feel a certain emotion caused by nostalgia, which is obviously a plus for its production. There’s nothing to argue against that, I totally get it, even more so when you consider that McCartney and Starr had to deal with a flood of emotions during the project.

Problem, The big problem comes when we see the use of artificial intelligence applied to ideas… well, let’s just say they can be improved upon. So we can see some moments in which images partially generated or edited by artificial intelligence are interspersed with old and current images of The Beatles, with the result that instead of “getting” us more into the song, its narrative and the halo of nostalgia, it kicks us back painfully back to the real world.

Did it make sense to use artificial intelligence in the production of Now and Then? Yes, without the slightest doubt, as has been proven. Now, did it make sense to use it in the production of the music video? There are answers for all tastes, but in my opinion the answer is a clear no. Which in turn gives the impression of The Beatles’ last song and video a perfect example of how to use AI and how not to.