The Beatles have a chance at winning a Record of the Year Grammy for the first time ever for the track "Now & Then," which was created with AI technology from a vintage demo featuring the voice of late band member John Lennon.
The iconic band was nominated in the same category for “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in 1965, “Hey Jude” in 1969, and “Let It Be” in 1971 but has never won Record of the Year.
Band members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison (who died on November 29, 2001) had started working on "Now and Then"—John Lennon's "long mythologized" 1970s unfinished home demo—as part of The Beatles Anthology project in February 1995.
However, it remained incomplete for decades due to the lack of available technology to isolate Lennon's vocals from the piano recorded on tape.
It wasn't until 2022 that a software system was developed by Peter Jackson and his team to overcome that challenge, allowing them to extract Lennon's vocals from the demo through a machine-learning-assisted audio restoration technology commissioned by Jackson for his 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back.
"Now and Then" marks the group's first nomination since winning three Grammys in 1997.
The Fab Four earned two Grammy nods for their latest song, including in the Record of the Year category along with the likes of contemporary music artists such as Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone.
People were understandably confused.
And many had mixed feelings.
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Some were peeved that the Beatles slot could have gone to snubbed artists like Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, or Bruno Mars.
Others didn't raise a fuss about the nomination.
You can watch the music video for "Now and Then," here.
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The Beatles won their first Grammy in 1965 at the 7th Grammy Awards for Best New Artist of 1964 and Best Performance by a Vocal Group for "A Hard Day's Night."
The group won Album of the Year in 1968 for their groundbreaking album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
So far, the legendary British band has won a total of seven Grammys.
Will they nab an eighth?
We'll find out when the 67th Grammys airs next year on Sunday, February 2, 2025.
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