Solo songs by Paul McCartney and John Lennon have been reimagined as Beatles songs using artificial intelligence, and they’re bringing fans to tears.
McCartney’s song “New” from the eponymous 2013 album was run through an AI program to make it sound like it was recorded by The Beatles rather than him solo.
This remastered version includes harmonies from the other band members and McCartney’s own vocals have been toned down to make him sound like he did when he was younger.
Who is using AI to make new Beatles songs?
This video was uploaded to YouTube by user Dae Lims, an account created on April 23 that has so far uploaded six AI renderings, including those related to the Beatles, specifically McCartney.
That same account uploaded another Beatles arrangement of the song “Grow Old With Me,” recorded by John Lennon in 1980, the same year he was murdered. Using AI, the vocals of his old bandmates were added, with the final result sounding like it could have been ripped straight out of the Let It Be album.
The original song was released on the Milk and Honey album in 1984. When The Beatles anthology was released a decade later, it was one of the songs that the last remaining band members considered remastering.
Listeners on YouTube seem very excited about these new songs. Some wrote that they made them cry and others said it sounded “just like a new Beatles song.”
But this isn’t the first time someone has used AI for Beatles songs.
Director Peter Jackson had a team use AI when making the film Let It Be, which eventually became the series The Beatles: Get Back.
So far, there hasn’t been any response from the remaining Beatles or other rights holders of the Beatles’ legacy. However, if history is anything to go by, they will likely demand the songs be pulled off YouTube once they learn of them.
