Eloise Smith, 23, posted a response video on TikTok instantly after listening to “Now and Then,” the Beatles music launched on Thursday.

“Can’t imagine it’s 2023 and I get the enjoyment of listening to a brand new Beatles music 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, stated 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 stated.

Ms. Smith, who has a forearm tattoo of the band’s “Abbey Street” album cowl, stated she was “thrilled” weeks in the past when she heard about “Now and Then.” The flexibility to instantly react and join with different followers of the band via social media has made the expertise of listening to a brand new Beatles music richer, she added.

“Reasonably than simply being within the type of bubble of your mates, you possibly can converse to individuals everywhere in the world about it,” she stated.

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 grew to become the principle medium for music followers, the Beatles held out as soon as extra, ready till 2015 earlier than making the band’s work obtainable on Spotify, Apple Music and different platforms.

The choice to go digital allowed new generations of listeners to extra simply uncover a gaggle that had gained the adoration of mobs of screaming followers within the Nineteen Sixties. Now, Gen Z listeners repeatedly submit Beatles-related movies on social media platforms.

“This music is my Roman Empire,” one listener wrote in a TikTok submit, referring to a meme claiming that males take into consideration the Roman Empire not 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 stated they had been excited to hearken to the music with their grandparents.

Skylar Moody, 24, stated she spent most of Thursday attempting to keep away from “Now and Then” spoilers. A superfan whose social media presence is sort of totally dedicated to all issues Beatles, she wished to file her response to her first pay attention, which meant ready till she was completed with work. She stored her cellphone on silent all day, lest she by accident 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, stated she grew to become a Beatles fan after watching “A Onerous Day’s Evening,” 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 stated, “we are able to 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 group of individuals to speak to that can 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 music.” It’s the third one since John Lennon’s dying in 1980, after “Free as a Hen” and “Actual Love” within the mid-Nineties. All three had 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 stated in one other TikTok video, including, “We’re experiencing their final music 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, stated that she would strive not to wear down “Now and Then” within the coming days. “I’ve been type of listening to it each now and again, to savor it,” she stated, “as a result of it’s such an enormous deal.”