Once more, the Beatles are making history, but this time with a little help from AI. Their song "Now and Then," which was finished with AI, has just been nominated for two Grammys. This is the first time in history that an AI-assisted track has been nominated for a Grammy.

The song is up for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance. Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish are some of the modern artists that are on the list—just to show how tight the competition is. 

What’s remarkable about these nominatinos is the fact that the Beatles broke up over 50 years ago. Plus, two of its members, John Lennon and George Harrison, are no longer with us.

So how did this AI-powered Beatles song come to be? It all started with a demo recording John Lennon made in the late 1970s. The track, called "Now and Then," was originally considered for the Beatles' Anthology series in the 1990s, but the sound quality was too poor to work with at the time.

Fast forward to recent years, and filmmaker Peter Jackson's team made some cool AI tech that could tell the difference between vocals and background noise. This same technology was used in Jackson's "Get Back" documentary about the Beatles. Two of the Beatles who were still alive, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, saw a chance to finally finish "Now and Then."

They worked on Lennon's vocal track from the old demo using AI to make it sound better. They then added new instrumentation and vocals, along with some guitar parts George Harrison had recorded in the '90s. The result is what Paul McCartney has called "the last Beatles song".

The song has been a commercial success, hitting number one on charts worldwide when it was released in November 2023. Fans seem to have embraced this unexpected new chapter in the Beatles' story.

There is a lot of talk these days about using AI to make music, and some people are afraid it could replace human creativity. But this time it is more about improving and keeping the human element. As McCartney put it, "We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do".

These Grammy nominations are a big deal because "Now and Then" is the first song with AI help to be nominated in a major category. There are rules about how AI can be used in music that the Grammys have made clear. Basically, a song must have some kind of human contribution that is more than just minimal in order to be eligible.

This nomination has sparked some debate in the music industry. Some people see it as an exciting step forward that shows how technology can bring old music to life again. Others aren’t so pleased with the quality and the fact that AI was used.

The 67th Grammy Awards are set to take place on February 2, 2025. Whether or not "Now and Then" wins, its nominations have already made history and opened up new possibilities for how we think about music creation and preservation.

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