No Time To Die: Luck of The Eilish by Ajay Chowdhury
By: Ajay Chowdhury
Published: 2020-02-24
Walking the red carpet at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on 9th February 2020, Billie Eilish, who co-composes with her sibling Finneas O'Connell, revealed, “Writing a Bond song is like one of the biggest goals as a musician and a songwriter. I think my brother and I who I write with have been trying to write a Bond theme subconsciously and consciously our whole lives.”
On 14th January 2020, when the choice of the singer was announced, it garnered major headlines around the world. Not only had Billie Eilish had the biggest selling album in the US for 2019, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, but she had been nominated for six Grammy awards. Weeks later, she walked away with awards for best newcomer, album of the year, record of the year and song of the year...
Her title theme for No Time To Die dropped on Valentine’s Day, 14th February 2020, the first postponed release date of the film itself. Eilish then performed the track at the BRIT Awards at London’s O2 centre on 18th February. As well as winning the Best International Female award, the singer performed a spellbinding performance featured her plaintive vocals. Billie was accompanied by her brother Finneas on piano, guitarist Johnny Marr from the legendary Manchester band The Smiths and the film’s composer, Hans Zimmer, who’d orchestrated the track with Matt Dunkley. Whilst Marr eked out his Vic Flick-ian guitar line, Zimmer conducted the accompanying orchestra. It was the most rapturous debut a James Bond song as ever had.
Billie Eilish - No Time To Die (Live From The BRIT Awards, London)
It worked. The song scored 90,000 chart sales in the first week as well as 10.6 million streams. It was the biggest opening for a Bond song ever, making it the second 007 UK number 1 after Sam Smith'sWriting’s On The Wall for 2015’s Spectre. Of Eilish’s song, Smith commented:
“It’s so beautiful. People have in their head what a Bond song is so you’re never going to please everyone. She’s done such a beautiful job and she’s kept it classic which I’m so happy about. I’m really impressed, I think it’s amazing.”
Official Charts chief executive Martin Talbot said:
“What a fantastic achievement this is for Billie Eilish, to set new standards for a brand new Bond track and break through through the 1 billion barrier for audio streams in the UK. Both achievements coming in the week when she was one of the standout performers and victors at the 40th BRIT Awards. She is a superstar who is clearly 'Licensed To Win'.”
The single will be out on Interscope Records, an imprint of Universal Music and the soundtrack is to be released on Decca Records on 27th March 2020.
For the latest official announcements on No Time To Die, visit the official website.