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"We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI so then we could mix the record as you would normally do," the 80-year-old singer told BBC Radio.
Beatles fans will soon be able to hear new vocals from the late John Lennon, thanks to artificial intelligence.
In a new interview with BBC Radio 4, Paul McCartney revealed The Beatles will be releasing one "final" record later, sharing that the song was completed by using AI technology and a demo featuring Lennon's voice.
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View Story"We just finished it up and it'll be released this year," said McCartney, 80.
"When we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had, that we worked on," he added. "We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record, as you would normally do."
Although the singer didn't reveal the name or any further details about the upcoming record, NBC News said fans are speculating that the song will come from Lennon's demo, "Now and Then," which, along with his demos "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," was recorded in the late 70s. "Now and Then" is said to have been included in the cassette Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, gave McCartney in 1994.
Meanwhile, during his interview with BBC Radio, McCartney said director Peter Jackson used AI technology while isolating The Beatles' voices from old footage while editing and mixing old footage for his 2021 documentary series, "The Beatles: Get Back."
"All that is kind of scary but also exciting because it's the future," McCartney told BBC while discussing AI's influence on the music industry.
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View Story"And [Jackson] he was able to extricate John's voice from a ropey little cassette that had John's voice and a piano," he continued. "He could separate them with AI -- he could tell the machine, 'That's the voice, that's the guitar, lose the guitar.' And he did that, so it has great uses."
"So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo John had, that we worked on and just finished it up," McCartney added. "It'll be released this year. We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI so then we could mix the record as you would normally do."
The upcoming record will mark the band's first new song in decades. The Beatles haven't released songs since Lennon's demos "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" were used to create new material, and released in 1995 and 1996, respectively.
There are only two original Beatles members alive today, including McCartney and Ringo Star. Lennon died after he was fatally shot in 1980, while George Harrison passed away from lung cancer in 2001.
