The youngest artist ever to record a 007 title track, 18-year-old Eilish revealed a haunting ballad exploring themes of lies and betrayal
The youngest artist ever to record a 007 title track, the 18-year-old revealed a haunting ballad exploring themes of lies and betrayal.
Fans of the franchise spotted that the chord that ends the song is taken from Monty Norman’s original Bond theme.
Betrayal theme
Eilish – who will perform the track live for the first time at the Brit Awards next week – joins an illustrious list of artists soundtracking the franchise, including Adele, Sam Smith, Madonna, Sir Paul McCartney and Dame Shirley Bassey.
“Was I stupid to love you? Was I reckless to help?” the Los Angeles-born singer asks on No Time To Die.
It gradually builds up to a muted crescendo, in which Eilish sings: “Fool me once, fool me twice. You’ll never see me cry, there’s just no time to die.”
‘Works for Craig’s Bond’
Bond music historian Jon Burlingame said the song is typical of Eilish’s sound and a fitting companion to Daniel Craig’s swansong as 007.
“It’s moody, it’s kind of dark. The lyrics are filled with regret and speak of betrayal, and all of that plays into the current Bond mystique, the Daniel Craig era of Bond,” he said. “That works for a contemporary Bond audience.”
The words suggest that Craig’s Bond will be double-crossed by Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), his love interest from the previous film, Spectre.
Fans called the song “mesmerising”, while singer Sam Smith praised Eilish for creating a “classic” and “beautiful” track.
Smith, who won an Oscar for Writing’s On The Wall, the title song for 007 film Spectre, told Capital Breakfast: “It’s so beautiful. I literally woke up like an hour and a bit ago and I was sitting on the toilet listening to it. It’s so beautiful.”
‘A bit dreary’
Others expressed disappointment at the song, which continues the mournful approach of Adele’s Skyfall and Smith’s Writing’s On The Wall.
Musician and TV director Jim Sheridan said: “Billie Eilish is brilliant and deserves all her success BUT this new Bond theme is a shocker… It’s a dirge that goes nowhere and not even the lush orchestration for the last minute can redeem it.”
Others called the tune “a bit dreary” and a “downer after the inevitable exciting opening scenes”.
Eilish, who swept the four big categories at the Grammy Awards last month, said she and Finneas found the song easy to write.
“We got a piece of the script, like the first scene and then wrote the song immediately and we wrote it in three days in Texas and we recorded it in a bunk on the bus, in the basement in the dark,” she told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
No Time To Die, Craig’s fifth and final outing as James Bond, is due to be released in UK cinemas on 2 April.
