More than five decades after The Beatles disbanded, the legendary group continues to make history. Their latest and final song, “Now and Then,” has earned a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance and received a nomination for Record of the Year at the 2025 Grammys, a feat that no other band has achieved in such a remarkable way.
What makes this achievement even more extraordinary is the song’s long journey. Originally recorded as a rough home demo by John Lennon in 1977, “Now and Then” remained unfinished for decades. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison attempted to complete it during the 1995 Anthology sessions, but technological limitations made it impossible to extract Lennon’s vocals cleanly.
Fast forward to 2023, and with the help of modern AI technology pioneered by filmmaker Peter Jackson (who directed The Beatles: Get Back), Lennon’s voice was finally isolated, allowing McCartney and Starr to finish the song as intended. The result was a track that blended past and present, Lennon’s heartfelt vocals, Harrison’s archived guitar parts, and fresh instrumentation from McCartney and Starr.
A Grammy-Winning Moment
Despite being a song decades in the making, “Now and Then” made an instant impact when it was released in November 2023.
- Best Rock Performance (which it won, beating out The Black Keys, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Idles, and St. Vincent).
- Record of the Year (though it lost to Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us).
Sean Ono Lennon, John Lennon’s son, accepted the Best Rock Performance award on behalf of the band, delivering an emotional speech. “I really didn’t expect to be accepting this award on behalf of my father’s group, The Beatles,” he said. “But it’s really incredible if you think about it.”
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The Beatles and the Grammys
This marks The Beatles’ eighth competitive Grammy win, adding to their long and storied history at the awards. They won their first Grammy in 1965 for “A Hard Day’s Night”, and while they have been nominated 25 times, they had never won in the Record of the Year category, despite previous nominations for hits like Hey Jude and Let It Be.
If “Now and Then” had won Record of the Year, it would have been a first for The Beatles. However, even without that honor, the song’s Grammy recognition is groundbreaking, not only because it was their first win in 28 years, but also because it is likely the first Grammy-winning song to be completed with AI assistance.
The Role of AI
The use of artificial intelligence in music is a hotly debated topic, and some fans were initially concerned that “Now and Then” might have relied on AI to generate Lennon’s voice. However, Paul McCartney clarified that AI was only used to isolate and enhance Lennon’s existing vocals, rather than fabricate anything artificial.
Paul McCartney says artificial intelligence has been used to extract John Lennon’s voice from an old demo to create “the last Beatles record,” decades after the band broke up. https://t.co/rm1TF4pr7K
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) June 13, 2023
“To be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it,” McCartney reassured fans. “We cleaned up some existing recordings, a process which has gone on for years.”
A Fitting Farewell
“Now and Then” is not just another Beatles song, it is a symbol of music’s power to transcend time. It represents unfinished work finally completed, the reunion of bandmates across generations, and the incredible advancements of modern technology bringing the past into the present.
More than 40 years in the making, this song stands as The Beatles’ final chapter, and its Grammy recognition cements its place in history. From a forgotten demo to an award-winning hit, “Now and Then” is proof that The Beatles’ magic still endures, now, then, and always.
