A new song from The Beatles is coming sometime later this year, but one of the two remaining members of the band says that fears over the composition—and the technology being used to finish it—are completely overblown.
“The rumors were that we just made it up,” Ringo Starr stated during an interview with the Associated Press. The drummer seemingly scoffed at the idea, saying, “Like we would do that anyway.”
Starr is referring to a final Beatles recording, featuring all four members, which was announced this summer. In June, news broke about the forthcoming release of a track by the Fab Four that was created—or, more appropriately, finished—using AI technology.
The band utilized a process that allowed them to take John Lennon’s vocals out of a demo he recorded decades ago. In the recording, he was playing piano and singing, but now the AI has made it possible to extract just his voice, which can then be used on a fully-produced composition.
While still innovative, this technique has been used previously, including with other Beatles recordings. Director Peter Jackson utilized it while making his docuseries The Beatles: Get Back. In that instance, AI removed the voices of the members of the rock band from other background sounds to present them in a much more clear and clean manner.
The announcement of this “new” song initially sparked some confusion and, in some spaces among longstanding fans, a touch of apprehension. There were rumors circulating that the inclusion of Lennon’s contributions to the upcoming track was somehow fabricated or tampered with, or that AI was trained to understand Lennon’s vocal styling and then allowed to make new music with that sound.
In the months since the world first learned about this new Beatles song, Paul McCartney has clarified that these rumors are simply not true, and now Starr is backing him up.
The forthcoming single is particularly special, as, in Starr’s own words, “This is the last track, ever” on which all four Beatles members will be heard—at least when it comes to tunes that haven’t already been released.
Conversation around the song has been going on for months, but so far, no specific release date has been shared just yet. AP pushed Starr about that topic, asking when fans will be able to hear the tune. The celebrated musician, who is currently promoting his latest EP Rewind Forward, said plainly that “It should’ve been out already.”
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