Paul McCartney turns 78 this week! He's been active in the music industry since 1957 - that’s a good 63 years!
We love a bit of Macca. And to celebrate we've taken a snapshot of his music career, to see if our AI can spot any trends or developments from his early days with The Beatles, through to today. We tagged three of his biggest hits from each decade and mapped the genres, moods and energy in each track to see if anything has changed over six decades of being at the top of his game. Here are the results...
As a founding member of The Beatles, it comes as little surprise that McCartney is fundamentally a rocker; a common thread of Rock, Classic Rock and Indie have been the backbone of his illustrious history. Many would argue that he is a key contributor to mean meaning of Rock and Classic Rock genres.Â
His stint with Wings and his solo career was an opportunity for Macca to write music with more folk and pop sounds, perhaps all of those years playing on a loud stage with screaming fans all got a little too much for him!Â
What we see in his later career is a mix of musical styles inspired by 80s Pop, Jazz and back to his roots of Classic Rock. And the energy levels in his later career are actually much less predictable swinging from low through to high energy. The mix of styles and energies could make up part of the reason why so many people still consider Macca one of the best live performers in the world today.
When we track the moods of his music, it’s almost as if we’ve taken a snapshot of Sir Paul’s personality and demeanour; Positive, relaxed and romantic with a moderate energy.Â
So what should fans expect from him in the future?
That’s the great thing about Macca. We can always guarantee it’ll be positive and more probably a little romantic… but with collaborations with the likes of Dave Grohl, Rihanna and Kanye and Elvis Costello in recent years, from a genre perspective, expect him to keep you on your toes…
After all, as the song goes; Love is all you need...
