Tag: Paul McCartney

AI and the Song

Music is a universal language like no other.

When words seem inadequate, it speaks volumes.

So where does music come from?

We may differ in our opinions on that. But a lot of us believe that inspiration, in music as in various other art forms, literary writings, discoveries, inventions, and the like, has an other worldly origin.

Musical inspiration is particularly unique, though, because of its biblical roots and its distinct resonance within human beings across all time.

Artists who are driven to share their musical inspirations are currently facing some questions that are seriously haunting ones.

Here are a few:

1. Can technology really create the equivalent of human music?

2. Will technologically designed songs measure up to the music that human beings love?

3. Is music designed by technology really music?

There are a whole lot of music artists who are concerned about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its supposed “creation” of musical content.

Experimentation with computers composing music has been going on for decades. But there was always a human at the helm.

Now with AI, the human is hidden. A programmer, a series of programmers, faceless, nameless, all seemingly lost, only data remain.

And we are supposed to accept the notion that data have been assigned to be our new composers?

Such so-called artistic advances in AI are prompting an interesting reaction – a mixed blend of enthusiasm, anticipation, and alarm.

A few recent examples provide insight.

A “collaboration” between famed pop musicians Drake and The Weeknd, which was actually an AI-simulated version of “Heart on My Sleeve,” went viral on social media. The track was quickly pulled at the behest of the label, Universal Music Group.

AI was used to generate an album of the highly successful British rock band Oasis. But the group had long been disbanded. Apparently, an insignificant detail.

Canadian EDM artist Claire Boucher, a.k.a. Grimes, is evidently embracing the idea of an AI version of herself.

She sent out the following advertisement of sorts:

“I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice,” Grimes tweeted. “Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.”

Probably the biggest story relating to all of the above involves Sir Paul McCartney. The former Beatle is one of the most influential composers and performers of all time.

McCartney has accelerated the AI discussion by announcing that the surviving Beatles would release an AI-assisted tune, which will feature vocals by the late John Lennon.

He told BBC Radio 4 that the technology was able to “extricate” Lennon’s voice from a demo recording to allow the song to be completed, and it is set to be released this year.

During the production of Peter Jackson’s documentary “Get Back,” technology was used to remove background noise from the track and otherwise clean up the audio.

“[Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette,” McCartney said. “We had John’s voice and a piano and he [Jackson] could separate them with AI.”

“So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had, and we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI,” McCartney added.

Reportedly, the song is a 1978 Lennon composition called “Now and Then.”

McCartney had received the demo a year earlier from Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. The tracks were recorded on a boombox as John sat at the piano in his New York apartment.

Two of the songs on the demo, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” were restored by producer Jeff Lynne and released in 1995 and 1996, the first Beatles release in 25 years.

The band had attempted to record “Now and Then,” but the recording session had been halted and the tune abandoned.

Now AI is facilitating McCartney’s completion of the song.

But is it really a new Beatles song? John isn’t with us anymore. How could it be?

After the announcement, some consternation appeared on various web platforms.

McCartney then backtracked a bit, taking to Twitter to assure Beatle fans that in the making of the “new” Beatles song nothing had been “artificially or synthetically created.”

It could be that McCartney is experiencing some trepidation about the use of AI for music production.

He’s certainly not alone.

According to a poll taken by the Bedroom Producers Blog, 86% of those surveyed believe the technology will replace existing tools of music production, and 73% of respondents believe AI could replace human producers in the future.

It actually doesn’t take a musician or songwriter or producer or engineer to realize that, within this context, AI is just what its name indicates – Artificial.

Thankfully, there are still those among us who are able to recognize real music and who freely acknowledge the very source of our human inspiration.

Celebrities Show Love for W.H.O., Disrespect for U.S.

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Despite having temporarily sacrificed some of our freedom during the coronavirus lockdown, many Americans seem to have gained a newfound appreciation for our country.

The Hollywood left, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to have had the same experience.

To a whole lot of everyday people, much has been revealed through the pandemic that shocked us to the core, and many a lesson has been learned. One of the most important lessons gleaned is how incredibly dangerous it is to be dependent on a communist regime with regard to our critical supply chain.

Too many of our celebrities, though, continue to display an utter lack of awareness or understanding about the geopolitical realities of our times. This was recently driven home when many of the rich and famous lent their names and talents to the unworthy cause of raising funds for the World Health Organization (W.H.O.).

A virtual concert took place this past weekend, which was promoted as a “One World” event. It was designed to benefit the W.H.O., a global entity that is deeply enmeshed in controversy.

The concert’s marquee included A-list celebrities such as Taylor Swift, John Legend, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John, and Lady Gaga.

Late-night comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel served as hosts. Other famous individuals who made appearances included Ellen DeGeneres, former First Ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, and Bill and Melinda Gates, the couple whose foundation is the W.H.O.’s second biggest donor.

As a virtual concert, the event had artists and participants appearing from their homes; this allowed for the event to be broadcast across multiple television channels in the U.S. and around the globe. Funds in excess of $128 million were raised, according to a press release from the organizers.

The timing of the concert was more than unfortunate for our nation. President Donald Trump had just canceled funding for the W.H.O., due to credible allegations of influence exerted upon the group by the communist regime in China.

The president took the appropriate action for our country when he held back funds for the W.H.O., pending an investigation of the group’s alleged malfeasance in dealing with China’s mishandling and potential cover-up of the coronavirus breakout in Wuhan.

The W.H.O. has had a spate of bad press. The head of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is a former official of Ethiopia’s Marxist Tigray People’s Liberation Front. In January and well into February of 2020, Tedros lavished unmerited praise on the Chinese government for its handling of the virus’s breakout and supposed sharing of information. While the W.H.O. leader commended China, he simultaneously criticized other nations for their responses to the coronavirus emergency.

Tedros had encouraged the nations of world not to limit travel to and from China and also delayed letting the world know that the virus was a public health emergency.

At a recent White House press conference in which he pledged to withdraw W.H.O. funding, President Trump stated the following: “The W.H.O.’s attack on travel restrictions put political correctness above life-saving measures.”

Interestingly, the “One World” virtual concert was organized by the W.H.O. along with another entity, the non-profit advocacy group Global Citizen.

The staging of a musical event with a theme that ran counter to the Trump administration’s policies was apparently something that Global Citizen had been involved with on a prior occasion, as recently as September of last year.

President Trump had just shared with the United Nations General Assembly the notion that “the future does not belong to the globalists. The future belongs to the patriots.” A mere four days later an event called the “Global Citizen Festival” was held in New York’s Central Park.

Entertainers that were featured included Queen (with Adam Lambert), Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, OneRepublic, Carole King, and Hugh Jackman, a celebrity lineup with comparable star power to the one that the W.H.O. featured at its fundraising concert. Tickets to the event were offered for free to “global citizens” who were willing to “take a series of actions to create lasting change around the world.”

Similar to the recent W.H.O. “One World” concert, the event brought together entertainment figures to appear with activists in order to promote a host of radical pseudo-utopian causes.

Our nation and the priceless freedoms it affords are what enable individuals to reach for the sky and, when hard work and destiny lock hands, achieve their dreams.

Perhaps as tragic as a virus that infects the body is a hatred that hardens the heart. There is no virtue in supporting the W.H.O., an organization that may have assisted China and betrayed the U.S. and possibly the whole world.