Do we have time to listen to Billie Eilish's Bond theme song for No Time To Die?
Aux Features Newswire
The James Bond movie theme song has long been a milestone in the career of musical artists, something that Daniel Craig’s tenure in the role of the international superspy has only made more clear, as a wide variety of artists have striven to get their Shirley Bassey on on his behalf. Chris Cornell, Jack White, Alicia Keys, Adele, and Sam Smith have all sung the backing tunes for Craig’s nicely-suited shenanigans, reminding audiences that they know his name, promising another way to die, confirming that the sky done fell, and making it clear that the writing is, ultimately, on the wall.
Now meteoric up-and-coming Grammy winner Billie Eilish has formally joined these august ranks, having just released “No Time To Die,” the title track from the April 10 film of the same name, on the internet this afternoon. Written with Eilish’s brother, Finneas O’Connell, the song is slow, moody, romantically paranoid (“Fool me once, fool me twice”), and shot through with lots of Bond-ian touches—including heavy doses of those classic 007 strings. Eilish and the film’s social media team released the song just a few minutes ago, uploading it to YouTube in all its surprisingly sweeping glory.
The film’s Twitter account also announced that Eilish will be performing the track live at the Brit Awards next week, alongside O’Connell, Hans Zimmer, and Johnny Marr. Per Pitchfork, Eilish was positively giddy about getting to put her spin on the franchise, noting in a recent interview that “It feels crazy to be a part of this in every way. To be able to score the theme song to a film that is part of such a legendary series is a huge honor. James Bond is the coolest film franchise ever to exist. I’m still in shock.”
Zimmer is also writing the movie’s score.
143 Comments
Yep, that’s Billie Eilish over a James Bond theme. It’s uhh… fine? Kind of karaoke-y?
A little boring
It’s fine, although I hoped for something with more energy? It honestly sounds like Fleurie’s “Love and War”.
I’m not much of a fan of Billie’s music, but the one thing I like is that despite her songs’ hushy tones, they have a nice bump to them and aren’t sleepy, unlike most of the mumble pop around, which is cool. Especially since I can almost hear this theme with some electronic beat in the background building up to a climax.
My thoughts exactly. It’s a decent song on its own, if not my style, but I was expecting a little more energy for a theme song to a Bond movie.
Ooh, nicer than expected.I’m so pumped for this film. Usually I wait for the critics considering some of Craig’s films have bombed (Spectre and whatever the one after Casino Royale was called), but this one has some great names attached (Phoebe Waller Bridge, Cary Fukanaga) and a great cast.
“Spectre and whatever the one after Casino Royale was called”.You know very well it was called Condoms of Salsa.
Id prefer that over Quantum of Solace. Maybe its better edited as well.
Hot take: Quantum of Solace is the second best Craig Bond movie.
Quite the hot take. I’ll admit I find it mostly forgettable outside the editing. I’ve seen worse.
Skyfall is a stunningly overrated mediocrity and Spectre is arguably the worst Bond movie ever. So what’s left?
Or ‘The Something of Boris’.And while I’m here, this was the alternative offering.
I preferred to mock that one with synonyms:Mote of TranquilityIota of ComfortBit o’Peace
I tried that once, ended up in the hospital.
It’s no MGS “Snake Eater”, but I mess with it.
Snake Eater still goes hard as hell after all these years. Brrrrap, Cynthia Harrell gang gang, etc.
Great, thanks… now I have to listen to that track for the millionth time. As I said: great, thanks!
I’m pretty sure this movie will be a goddamn mess, and everything from the set seems to confirm that. having said that, between Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Rami Malek and Fukunaga, it will probably be a very interesting mess, which I’ll take over the last boring-ass movie any day
The formula appears to be every other Craig Bond film is excellent.. Casino Royale – wonderous, Condoms of Salsa ( lol)- meh, Skyfall – perfect, Spectre- blah….so No Time To Die is hopefully going to be amazing.
I like it.
If Hans Zimmer can weave that theme into his score, this movie could be something special, like Casino Royale special.
Nope!
it’s a slow burner, but i like it. i know that every popular thing has its group of haters, but i don’t get the hate for Ellish. at least she’s doing her own thing and clearly singing herself, instead of the sameness of most of pop music these days, with all the singers autotuned into similar-sounding wallpaper.
To me she’s Lorde but nihilistic, and I’m more of a melodrama sad boi than I am Gen Z absurdism. I liked two of her songs on her album, but the rest were eh
Same. I like her brother’s production and the new single is a bop, but I also like my singers to give me vocals, so I’m a little over this crop of whisper singers (and the male whisper singers are even worse). I’m surprised she entered the Miley-esque “trashing rap music” phase of her public persona so quickly, though.
Yeah, this and the Oscars is the first I’ve heard her. Unfortunately, she can’t hit the quiet high notes in this song. I like the music, but I can’t understand half the words. I didn’t love the Sam Smith song, but listening to that song after this one gives such a stark contrast to being able to sing quiet high notes (and those sections of the two songs are actually quite similar).
I’d argue it’s way harder to hit the range of notes she hits while in a subdued whisper than it is if you’re belting them out. There’s certainly some parts where she’s more just speaking in cadence than singing, but lots of singers have done that and it’s not a recent development… she gets some serious range considering her restraint.
Oh, for sure; when I say I want vocals, truly I mean that I want to hear some belting now and again, not that she can’t actually sing. It’s like, I don’t particularly care for Ariana Grande, but something like “Greedy” speaks to me on a cellular level.
Implying Lorde WASNT nihilistic lmao
The rest were Canadian?
Aside from her performance at the Oscars, I’ve never heard anything she’s sung, although I am both predisposed to dislike the latest pop star and probably am subconsciously prejudiced by constantly hearing about the Internet’s reflexive hatred of any new pop stars.That said, I really liked this song.
I like it. I think people were worried she’d overdo it with her experimental stylings, like Madonna and White/Keys really overreaching to disastrous results, but this is a perfect fairway layup of a 007 theme. Not a classic but familiar and nice. Pars win championships too.
at least she’s doing her own thing and clearly singing herself, instead of the sameness of most of pop music these days, with all the singers autotuned into similar-sounding wallpaper.
She’s really not though. She’s “cutting edge” if you’re still stuck in the 2010-2015 pop mentality, but otherwise it’s just half a decade of soundcloud trap/mumblerap trends having finally gone all out in the mainstream.
The music’s alright, but inbetween her age, connections, her brother doing most of the work, and her absolutely meteoric rise from ‘nobody’ to ‘household name’, I wouldn’t call her anything close to authentic – even by incredibly low standards of Hollywood ‘’’authenticity’’’.
“To me she’s Lorde but nihilistic, and I’m more of a melodrama sad boi than I am Gen Z absurdism.”As an Xer who rolled his eyes through a generation of kabuki theatre, sign me up for some Gen Z absurdism. Here’s hoping Gen Z also burns all the fucking banjos. Suck it, millennials!
Doing “her” own thing? In that industry? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
This is the first time I’ve heard her – at least knowingly. She sounds like every other indie singer out there. She consciously swallows her words. It’s the white girl Billie Holiday effect.
She’s an industry plant. A corporate, industry-curated pop star that’s been marketed as the opposite. She minimally talented; her voice, albeit having a nice soft tone, is rather weak and limited, and she can’t stand on her own two feet. Her producer/writer brother, who connected her in the industry, makes the music and writes majority of the lyrics. There’s way too much falsity in her whole brand and it’s insulting that she’s marketed as some authentic, revolutionary, unique force, when she and her brand is anything but.
industry plant? come on. citation needed on that one. that sounds like a rumor or even a conspiracy theory. she comes across as far more authentic than, say, Lana Del Rey, who is radiates a manufactured vibe.
I don’t think she’s nearly as interesting as people keep making her out to be. I’m fine with her not being really for me, but I feel like I have to read about her a lot in publications that otherwise wouldn’t be interested in regularly covering a teenage pop star or influencer. Still, less offensive than a Bieber or pewdiepie or whatever, give or take a stupid opinion about hip hop.
Better than Madonna’s.
Id hope most people are.
I’d hope EVERYONE is better than “Die Another Day”
And Sheryl Crow’s.(k.d. lang was robbed!)
It’s fine. I really wish it had gone to Alex Turner, I can literally hear him crooning “there’s no time to die” in my head and it drives me nuts.But the Bond franchise has a history of picking artist I don’t care for over artist I like (A-Ha over Pet Shop Boys, Sheryl Crow over Pulp)
Who is this “Billie Ellish”. It’s Billy Eilish.
It’s not even a typo, he says Ellish 5 times. How embarrassing for someone whose job is pop culture.
“Will Mr. Michael Ellis please report to the manager’s office.”
And it’s even in the URL!! Jesus christ.
They did say “Brain Wilson” last week.
I’d be embarrassed if my job was pop culture.
No, no it isn’t.
Are you gas lighting me.Oh wait, you mean “Billie” not “Billy”. Yeah, it’s not “Billy”, I just typed that mindlessly. I make a lot of phonetic typos.
Good talkin’ to ya, Willy.
Is this the right room for an argument?
Duh.
They’d rather leave it wrong for 18 hours than pay an editor.
Now that’s just sillie.
I was upset at how far down into the comments I had to get to find someone calling this out! He clearly hasn’t even ever heard anyone say her name apparently because if he had heard someone say “eye-lish” it should be obvious you’re not gonna get there with “Ell”I know this site is more for tv/movies than it is music, but c’mon – she’s one of the biggest artists working right now… this should be as embarrassing as if you thought it was Lady Gogo or Chase the Rapper.
I really like Billie Eilish, but I sorta wish this had a little something else to it. This sorta feels like if Evanescence tried to write a Bond theme.(And also, real talk: when did we decide that every Bond theme had to be this grand elegiac dirge? “Another Way to Die” wasn’t THAT bad, was it?)
It was that bad, but I do think we’re due for a more upbeat theme after now three straight entries with the same stylings. Heck, I’ll even settle for something like “All Time High”, which is still downbeat-sounding but has a little something backing it beyond the usual 007 brass and strings.
I think the beat has played really well with the movies. The last few bond movies have been pretty grim affairs and I assume this is going to go the same way
I still say the moderate lowpoint was Writing On the Wall… oh man was it bad. That falsettos…
Especially considering that they rejected a really good Radiohead song, which for bonus points actually uses the title/themes of Craig’s Bond to perfect effect without even being about James Bond
There is a long list of good rejected Bond songs. Amy Winehouse was supposed to sing Quantum of Solace, hell Johnny Cash did a song for Thunderball.
There were several good ones for Quantum, but the movie deserves the White/Keys dud. I love both of them on their own, but that song just didn’t work. They also had a Shirley Bassey song “No Good About Goodbye” which fit the movie so well. She also at least throws the word solace in there. Another good one is Blondie’s For Your Eyes Only. kd Lang’s Tomorrow Never Dies (Surrender) is another gem, they did put it at the end of the film. Still one of the stupidest titles in Bond history. I did listen to the Cash Thunderball recently, great song, not exactly Bond-like unless they did a James Bond Western, which I’m not entirely opposed to.
KD Langs song is so much better then the actual Bond song for Tomorrow Never Dies. And Outlaw 007 sounds awesome.
It was good in concept, bad in execution. The two voices don’t harmoize at all. Alicia Keys agrees.
Especially considering we could’ve had freaking SHIRLEY BASSEY
Eon’s been doing this for ages, since the Goldfinger/Thunderball days, really. A song will be an unexpectedly substantial hit, and the next run of songs after it will milk the formula until someone decides the well’s run dry and it’s time to make a swerve. Sometimes it stretches for a while (the long string of sensitive, romance-driven power ballads starting with “Nobody Does it Better”), sometimes it’s just a two-fer (the New Romantic double-punch of Duran Duran and a-Ha). But it’s a fifty-year-old strategy perennially dedicated to the hope that lightning can be made to strike as many subsequent times as possible…
“Another Way” wasn’t as terrible as it’s reputation suggests, like many (but not all) things about Quantum of Solace. But Eon was willing to experiment more with rock then because nobody thought the Chris Cornell song for Casino Royale had been all that terrible. And since Skyfall was such a big hit, this is now the third film where they’re milking the “introverted, mournful neo-Soul ballad with retro stylings,” evidently hoping it’ll work out as well as Skyfall. Of course, it didn’t help that the film the Sam Smith song was attached to was nowhere near as good as Skyfall…
Billie Eilish is an interesting singer, but her secret weapon is Finneas, her brother, co-writer, and producer. They are literally putting these tracks together in the bedroom of the home they grew up in. STILL. So whatever they are, it really is them; their sound isn’t being managed and manipulated. They deserve the attention. Listen again to this new Bond theme and catch all the layers cooking at the bottom. Finneas is very good at making the low end interesting while his sister does her thing at the high end. This is what I hoped they’d do with the Bond theme.
Lol, holy shit. Is the first scene a funeral march? A really AWFUL funeral march? This bitch ain’t got no PIPES (and Ima bitch too – with some pipes – so I can say it). I saw someone else here compare here to Lorde. Lorde could at least belt from the diaphragm. This kid gets an award for whispering into a mic. No bueno. But, meh, it’s really all about the Bond franchise – which should have disappeared about a decade after it emerged.
Lol, holy shit. Is the first scene a funeral march?
I mean, when the last film ended Bond had a steady lady friend that this movie will presumably have to promptly get rid of, so . . . probably?
Two really dangerous occupations: dating James Bond and drumming for Spinal Tap.Damn, now I’m picturing Bond banging Joe “Mama” Besser.
Hey, everybody! Everybody, hey! It’s important that we all note that Tap-Dancin- Vaudeville Penguin still doesn’t like Billie Eilish!Just want to make sure that this note is also, still very much on the record and registered in your consciousness! Again!
Be careful around the baby. She might dismiss your post instead of just responding to it like a goddamn adult like she does with me.Ssssh, everyone. The baby is sleeping.
No response to me or anyone else that’s responded to her crying, but hey – at least you got A BINGO for predicting that she’d try to dismiss your post! I had to dig it out of my comment history in order to find and respond to it.
Oh, she dismisses all my posts regardless of what they are. I hope she’s fucked off back to Jezebel for good this time.
Holy shit, are you Katy t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m? Because you certainly nailed the vibe. *holds up spork*
The one that opens with a funeral march (well, second scene) has one of the more rocking themes.
actually she has chops, she doesn’t use them on all her material though but she is an actual singer on some songs.
“This is not performed in the style I prefer and is therefore bad. Also, I am very good at the style I prefer. And not insecure.”
The song is about being betrayed by someone you loved and went all in with. In the end of Spectre, Bond tosses aside his career and revenge against Blofeld to couple with his latest Bond girl so… do the math on what the song is saying.
The “theme” song for Bond films plays over the ending credits.
Shit on toast, did you mean for this to come across as bitter? Because this comes across as bitter.
Disappointed. No need for bitterness.
I did like the little explanabrag you slipped in there.
You must be an absolute blast at parties. Also, I’m certain you are a much better singer that she is given your spectacular career as a musical artist /s.
Oooh that was fast, but I’d say we already have a frontrunner for next year’s Oscar for original song.
The opening notes remind me of the Assassin’s Creed theme:
It’s kinda low key (see kids, that’s the proper usage of that term), but I dig it. I can hear it being woven into a score quite nicely.
And may even pop more against the title sequence.
Made me oddly nostalgic for when Skyfall played on my college’s radio station every day.
Man, she really rocketed through the Promising New Sta/ End of Career Bond Theme Provider cycle.
Hopefully Alicia Keys, Moby, and Simon LeBon will be there to offer her advice when she lands.
Was on repeat for me on release. It’ll be in the top tier Bond songs of all time and clench the Oscar for next year.
It lacks the quiet subtlety of vintage Bond lyrics like “He strikes! Like THUNDERBAAAAAAAAAAAL” and “HE LOVES GOOOOLLLLLLLD.”
“HE ONLY LOVES GOLD! GOLD GOLD GOLD, GOLD GOLD! HAVE I MENTIONED THE GOOOOOOOOOOOLD?!”
It doesn’t FILL YOOUUR HEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART?She is not Shirley Bassey.
I love how the Thunderball song makes absolutely no lyrical sense but it works anyway damn it!
“Love is required whenever he’s hired”
Assuming the first minute and a half of the credits sequence is Bond taking a nap.
It’s no “The World Is Not Enough”, but I’ve heard worse.
I like it quite a bit more than I expected, but it’s also, as I feared, sleepy. That makes three sleepy themes in a row. I rank it third among the Craig themes.
Sounds like someone listened to Skyfall, thought “I can do that”.But then didn’t.Welcome to the lower half of the Bond theme song list.
Didn’t really gel with it till the 1:30min mark. Then it turns into a Bond film I can enjoy.It’s better than that Quantum of Solace horseshit we got back in the day. Still the worst Bond theme I’ve ever heard.
I hate Jack White as much as the next guy, but I think you’ve forgotten about Madonna’s ‘tune’ for Die Another Day. Please share with us how you managed it.
They’re both terrible.But I hate that Jack White song just a little bit more.
You know what’s sad? Instead of Jack White and Alicia Keys it could have been Amy Winehouse. Man I wish we had gotten that song.
I don’t wanna date a Brit spy Mama, no no no…
Great song. Billie Eilish isn’t totally my jam, but this is maybe the best theme of the Craig era? The themes haven’t been particularly inspired. Of course, I’m not really a fan of “Skyfall,” which I know is the one people really love.
“You Know My Name,” but I’m a sucker for Chris Cornell anyway.
That one’s actually kinda underrated.
I prefer “Another Way to Die”, but both are great. I just really love how Keys’ vocals battle with White’s guitar at some point in the song.
“You Know My Name” is a fucking jam
“Look up the number”
You Know My Name was a great song but the production and mix made it kind of flat and mushy. Give it some air, people, you’re suffocating it.
Better then Adele? I don’t know.
Eilish is really bloody good isn’t she, I say that as a sad 34 year old man slowly losing the battle to keep up with music. She absolutely stands out. And the fact Johnny Marr is working with her now should tell you all you need to know.
You don’t need to do this. 34 is too young to lose your self-respect.
As a fellow 34 year-old, I must disagree. My lack of self-respect has reached critical mass.
Oh, you’re going to love the “I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks anymore” stage of life.
I managed to scoop my 14-year-old on hearing this. She was stunned that there was a BE song I knew about before she did. As a good parent, I want to hate all the crap she listens to, but this song is actually good.
This is a song? Sounds like a demo tape. I have no issue with Billie’s part, but holy crap is the entire backing track underbaked. They sure saved some money on this one. Are those strings synths? Man, the Broccolis must have been squeezed after the Spectre disaster. What was the budget, like ten bucks?
I think reading the Fleming novels as a kid ruined the Bond films for me. By the time they seem to have stopped being outright ridiculous they had moved past the era and conflicts that, for me, defined James Bond. Do any of the later movies happen to be Cold War retrospectives about disillusioned and morally questionable assassins taking out their opposite numbers in a divided Berlin, possibly shot entirely from a sniper’s nest?
As an old white guy, I would have liked this song a lot more if it didn’t sound like Ms. Ellish was singing with a mouthful of marbles.Uptalk and vocal fry are one thing, but this trend of exploring the full extent of one’s inner cheeks that Billie and Sia Furler and others have adopted is grating.
No.
It sounds like a first draft. Either that or the brother needs to take a music theory class.
Duh.
The last 2 Bond Movie themes were forgettable, sad girl songs. So, this fits here.
This remains the greatest Bond theme ever, Joe Cornish’s song for Quantum of SolaceJoe Cornish as in director and writer of Attack the Block, starring Finn and the 13th Doctor …..
Very much in the mold of post-Adele Bond songs, so I can’t help but judge it by comparison. It’s certainly better than the formless squeakiness of Sam Smith’s song, even if the atmosphere is greatly similar. But it ain’t no Skyfall, in part because Ellish doesn’t have Adele’s chops as a singer. The thing is, I actually enjoy Ellish’s music more than Adele’s, but that song was just unequivocally fun regardless of any attachment I have to the franchise. This is pretty good. I can’t see putting it on regularly as I would with, say, Live and Let Die, but still pretty good. I have a creeping feeling I’m gonna feel the same way about the movie.
I know it’s not exclusive to this article but “meteoric” up and comer? Isn’t that literally the opposite of what a meteor tends to do?. As George Carlin once said “f××k popular usage!”.
Why can’t they just get good singers like back in the day? I just want the Craig era of Bond to come to an end as quickly as possible, because it’s been a shitshow so far.
I like this. The whisper style reminds me these are spy movies after all. But for some reason I have a soft spot for her, so I’m more ready to like it than not to. And Finneas is a force to be reckoned with as a writer and a producer IMO. As a team, they don’t seem to be averse to anything–trend or not. I think what I have a soft spot for is that they seem to just follow their ears instead of forcing their work into a specific genre. Although in this case, it’s obviously a Bond song, and in this case, I think it’s a wise choice. It sets a more intimate mood for a movie that starts with a Bond love story…that seems appropriate.
Like it, though I love “Goldfinger” the most in part because it can be parodied so easily. Every Yom Kippur, I walk around my house singing “Yommm… KIPPPAAAAH (whaWHAWHAwhaaaa)”
This article has been up for 18 hours and still spells the singer’s last name wrong throughout.
Eilish. FFS, it’s “Eilish.”
Does Billie Eilish have time to get a hair style that doesn’t look like Linda Blair threw up on her head?
I’m not feeling this one. It’s too soft and slow. I get that its a bit of her style and I do like some of her music, but I don’t think it works well for this setting. Now part of what makes a good Bond song is how it pairs up with the movie (the best ones always seem to match the tone of the film imo) so we’ll find out in a couple of months if this works better, but on first listen, I don’t think this works all that well.
Why would you bother to get Billie Ellish for the song and make it the same generic-sounding 007 song we always get? Her strength is the way she layers sounds and melodies, and this is just… blah.
I know her mom, and she’s a lovely woman who’d probably want you spelling her daughter’s last name correctly.
More emo bullshit, now with more ASMR? I thought we hit bottom with Sam Smith’s whining.
Where’s the torchy power ballad, the punchy brass lines, the vocal gymnastics?
And the song won’t be on the soundtrack album so I’ll have to pay extra again for the song and it’s sloppily produced instrumental.>sigh<
I fell asleep midway through the song, which I guess is on-brand, since all recent Bond films have the same effect.“James Bond is the coolest film franchise ever to exist. I’m still in shock.”And I am in shock that you’d think that, ma’am.
HIRE RINGO, YOU COWARDS.