Eloise Smith, 23, posted a response video on TikTok instantly after listening to “Now and Then,” the Beatles tune launched on Thursday.
“Can’t consider it’s 2023 and I get the enjoyment of listening to a brand new Beatles tune for the primary time ever,” she wrote within the video’s caption.
In an interview, Ms. Smith, a civil servant who lives in Manchester, England, mentioned she was a third-generation fan: Her grandmother launched her father to the Beatles, and her father launched them to her.
“I used to be 1 when George Harrison died,” she mentioned.
Ms. Smith, who has a forearm tattoo of the band’s “Abbey Street” album cowl, mentioned she was “thrilled” weeks in the past when she heard about “Now and Then.” The flexibility to right away react and join with different followers of the band via social media has made the expertise of listening to a brand new Beatles tune richer, she added.
“Somewhat than simply being within the sort of bubble of your pals, you possibly can converse to individuals all around the world about it,” she mentioned.
The Beatles got here late to digital media. The group didn’t promote downloads of its songs at Apple’s iTunes retailer till 2010, seven years after it had opened for enterprise. When streaming turned the primary medium for music followers, the Beatles held out as soon as extra, ready till 2015 earlier than making the band’s work accessible on Spotify, Apple Music and different platforms.
The choice to go digital allowed new generations of listeners to extra simply uncover a bunch that had gained the adoration of mobs of screaming followers within the Sixties. Now, Gen Z listeners recurrently submit Beatles-related movies on social media platforms.
“This tune is my Roman Empire,” one listener wrote in a TikTok submit, referring to a meme claiming that males take into consideration the Roman Empire no less than as soon as a day. In feedback, a number of individuals replied that the video was making them teary. “Sobbing,” they wrote. Others mentioned they have been excited to take heed to the tune with their grandparents.
Skylar Moody, 24, mentioned she spent most of Thursday attempting to keep away from “Now and Then” spoilers. A superfan whose social media presence is nearly solely dedicated to all issues Beatles, she needed to file her response to her first pay attention, which meant ready till she was completed with work. She saved her telephone on silent all day, lest she unintentionally hear a snippet of “Now and Then” whereas scrolling on-line.
Ms. Moody, who lives in New Jersey and goes, fittingly, by @lucyinthesky.lar on TikTok, mentioned she turned a Beatles fan after watching “A Arduous Day’s Night time,” the group’s 1964 movie, throughout a music historical past class in highschool. She described the Beatles’ on-line fandom as “very numerous and in addition unified.”
“It doesn’t matter what age or demographic you’re in,” she mentioned, “we will all come collectively in a single settlement that we love the Beatles.”
She continued: “That is the place we discover our individuals now. It’s really easy to go on social media and discover a fan neighborhood of individuals to speak to that may perceive you.”
Late on Thursday afternoon, she made a response video of herself listening to “Now and Then” in her automobile. “I’m listening to the Beatles! In 2023!” she exclaimed, clutching her face via a two-minute clip during which she describes what she’s listening to.
The Beatles’ firm, Apple Corps, has billed “Now and Then” because the group’s “final tune.” It’s the third one since John Lennon’s loss of life in 1980, after “Free as a Chook” and “Actual Love” within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. All three have been constructed on dwelling demo recordings made by Mr. Lennon.
“My coronary heart feels so heavy proper now, however in a great way,” Ms. Moody mentioned in one other TikTok video, including, “We’re experiencing their final tune collectively, and that is going to go down in historical past. I’m so comfortable that we get to share all of it collectively and that we’re in a position to share our ideas like this on-line with individuals who get it.”
Ms. Smith, the civil servant in England, mentioned that she would attempt not to wear down “Now and Then” within the coming days. “I’ve been sort of listening to it each now and again, to savor it,” she mentioned, “as a result of it’s such an enormous deal.”
