Billie Eilish has achieved yet another musical milestone. The 18-year-old pop wonder is recording the theme song for the upcoming 25th James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” becoming the youngest artist to do so. Eilish, who co-wrote the song with her brother, Finneas O’Connell, will follow in the footsteps of such artists as Paul McCartney, Gladys Knight, Tom Jones, Duran Duran and Adele.
“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 honour,” the singer, who will also work with composer Hans Zimmer, said in a statement tweeted by the franchise’s official account. “James Bond is the coolest film franchise ever to exist. I’m still in shock.”
“Writing the theme song for a bond film is something we’ve been dreaming about doing our entire lives. There is no more iconic pairing of music and cinema in my opinion. We feel so so lucky to play a small role in such a legendary franchise,” O’Connell added on Instagram.
Eilish — whose brooding electro-pop has captured the country’s ears and earned her six Grammy nominations (including album of the year, record of the year, song of the year and best new artist) for the upcoming awards ceremony — is a fitting pick for the franchise, which tends to favor music with a stately soaring somberness. (Think: Adele’s “Skyfall,” which finds the singer’s smoky voice rising from vaguely threatening to victorious and back throughout the tune.)
The theme song — and who will perform it — has become an integral part of each new installment in the Bond franchise, and it often earns the chosen artist accolades, if not awards. (Welsh singer Shirley Bassey, who sang “Goldfinger,” “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker,” is the only musician who has performed more than one.)
Arguably the most enduring song of the bunch is McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” from the 1973 film of the same name, which was the first to earn an Academy Award nomination (more than a decade after the film series debuted) and reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts. But Duran Duran and John Barry’s “A View to a Kill” in 1985 reached a higher peak in its own time and is the only Bond song to top the charts in the United States.
Carly Simon and Bill Conti both received Oscar noms for their Bond tunes, but the franchise didn’t secure a victory until recently. Only Adele and Sam Smith have won the golden statues for their efforts: her for 2012′s “Skyfall”; and him for “Writing’s on the Wall” for 2015′s “Spectre."
In some cases, making a song that isn’t used in the movie can prove to be helpful in its own way. A number of artists recorded songs for the franchise that were never used, which they later repurposed to suit their own needs. Brian Wilson, for example, recorded a song titled “Run James Run” in the hope that it would become a Bond theme. After it was rejected, he transformed it into the instrumental “Pet Sounds” on the iconic Beach Boys album. He revived the title years later and put out a song called “Run James Run” on his 2017 compilation album, “Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology.”
Johnny Cash’s “Thunderball,” Alice Cooper’s “The Man with the Golden Gun” and Blondie’s “For Your Eyes Only” were all also originally intended as theme songs — as their titles suggest.
“No Time to Die,” the final film to feature Daniel Craig as Bond, hits theaters in April.
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