No Time to Die: Listen to Billie Eilish’s new James Bond theme song

We’ve seen many different iterations of James Bond over the years, and as such the recipe for making a movie about the world’s most famous spy has often been tweaked. There’s one thing though that will always remain an iconic part of this franchise though: The theme song. And for the upcoming No Time to Die, star Daniel Craig’s final outing as Bond, it will be record-breaking pop-crooner Billie Eilish that has been given the honours. And now we get to hear what she and her producer-brother Finneas Eilish have cooked up for this 007 swan song.

At just 18-years old, Eilish had already made history as the youngest musician to ever perform a Bond theme song when it got announced early last month, and then, because making history once in a month wasn’t enough, she went on to become only the second artist in history to take the four top categories at the Grammy Awards (Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist) all in one night. So yes, you could definitely say that Billie Eilish is very popular and has a whole lot of momentum behind her right now.

As for the song I’m probably on around my 10th listen through right now and it’s… decent. I’m liking it a whole lot more than when I first heard it, with some haunting motifs and some great lyrics, but I feel it just lacks some oomph and personality. Adele’s Oscar-winning belter, Skyfall, is still the gold standard of the modern era of Bond when it comes to nailing that iconic big band 007 feel, while Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name from Casino Royale is most definitely the most fun and exciting of the lot. This offering from Eilish doesn’t really hit either of those vectors, sitting a bit too neatly right in the middle. With master composer Hans Zimmer himself working on the rest of the film’s score, I guess I just expected Eilish to deliver a bit more.

To be fair, I felt similarly about Sam Smith’s Oscar-winning Writing’s On the Wall from Spectre when I first heard it, and then grew to love it. But at least there, from the get-go, I felt it had a very catchy arrangement with those swooning horns blaring out with gusto. Here I’m not feeling any of that. I can barely remember the tune once I’m done hearing it. At least it’s better than Jack White and Alicia Key’s Another Way to Die from Quantum of Solace.

No Time to Die is directed by Cary Fukunaga and is scheduled for release on 10 April 2020.