Damon Albarn on The Beatles’ use of AI: “There could be hundreds of my songs released after my death”
Damon Albarn has offered his thoughts on The Beatles‘ use of AI in their new single ‘Now And Then’, sharing that he could imagine it happening to his own material one day.
The Beatles released their “final” song early last month, the last track to feature all the original members of the Fab Four. The song went on to top the charts six decades after their first Number One single.
‘Now And Then’ stems from a demo tape recorded by late bandmate John Lennon. With the help of AI, the songwriter’s vocals were lifted off the initial recording and allowed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to complete the song.
Blur frontman Albarn has now opened up on his thoughts around the process with French magazine Les Inrockuptibles, and thinks the same technology could even be applied to his voice one day.
“Initially, it was John Lennon alone in his flat singing a song,” he said of ‘Now And Then’, per Damon Albarn Unofficial Archive‘s English translation. “I don’t think it was meant to reach that level of exposure. But you know, it’s a good opportunity for everyone. I heard some compilations are going to be reissued. So, it may not be the last one.”
He went on: “It’s a question of scale: if enough people are interested, there could be hundreds of my songs released after my death, including songs that I would never have wanted to release. But you know, it’s nice to hear John’s voice.”
NME visited the Apple Corps London HQ ahead of the release of ‘Now And Then’ to find out more about the AI process that initially divided social media.
A mini documentary on the song revealed that Yoko Ono handed over a cassette of Lennon’s demos in 1994, before McCartney, Starr and George Harrison brought them into the studio to recover what they could and finish them off.
While Starr recalled that Lennon’s voice was “hidden” on that particular track, they were able to rescue Lennon’s voice and piano using the same AI technology that Jackson utilised to make the Get Back docu-series, which honed in on individual conversations in archival footage.
Elsewhere in Albarn’s recent interview with the French magazine, he declared that he was “pissed off” with the Rolling Stones for never “contributing” to Hackney – after naming their new album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ – and “objectifying” Sydney Sweeney in the music video for lead single ‘Angry’.
The same interview also saw the Gorillaz frontman say that it’s time to “wrap up” Blur again, sharing that it’s “too much for me”.
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Hollie Geraghty
NME
