What if Billie Eilish, Charlie XCX, Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar were beaten this year by… the Beatles? More than 25 years after their last nomination, the Fab Four have indeed been nominated again for the 2025 Grammy Awards. They could win the award for best song of the year for Now and then, a title composed by John Lennon in 1978 and which was completed in November 2023 using artificial intelligence, reports BFMTV.
Cleaned tracks
“It’s all real and we’re all playing on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process that has been going on for years,” Paul McCartney explained at the time. In detail, the song was written and performed by John Lennon, then worked on for the first time by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. It then remained on the shelf for more than 40 years, because George Harrison refused to use the tracks from this recording, judging their quality to be mediocre.
This is where artificial intelligence was used. It was used to clean the tracks. To do this, it was necessary to synthesize John Lennon’s voice. This was done using clips from old demo tapes. All this finalizing work was carried out by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, giving rise to this latest title, released 53 years after the group’s separation, 33 years after the assassination of John Lennon and 22 years after the death of George Harrison.
Top of the charts
But more than a release, Now and then was a real success. The song notably ranked at the top of the charts in the United Kingdom when it was released at the end of 2023, on this occasion overtaking Taylor Swift, who is also nominated for a Grammy this year for her title Fortnight in association with Post Malone. The Beatles’ last nomination dates back to 1997. The group won the award for best pop vocal performance as a duo or group for Free as a bird, a 1977 demo released in late December 1995.
In total, the famous British group has been nominated for the Grammy Awards 23 times, winning a total of seven statuettes. In 2025, the Beatles will therefore face Taylor Swift and Post Malone, but also Charlie XCX and his title 360, Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan, Birds of a feather by Billie Eilish or even Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter.
