Licence to chill..Billie Bond theme hailed as a haunting classic
TEENAGE pop sensation Billie Eilish’s theme song for the James Bond film No Time To Die proved to be an instant hit when it was unveiled yesterday.
The chilling ballad clocked up a staggering six million hits on YouTube in the first 12 hours after its release.
At 18, Billie is the youngest artist to record a 007 title track and joins an illustrious list of music greats to have sung a Bond theme, including Adele, Madonna, Sir Paul McCartney and Dame Shirley Bassey.
The five-time Grammy award winner met with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli last year in Ireland during a world tour, before being offered one of the most sought-after jobs in the music industry.
She was given an outline of the plot and a snippet of the script before writing the tune in three days with older brother Finneas.
Billie said: “We got a piece of the script, the first scene, and then we wrote the song immediately. We wrote it in three days. We wrote it in Texas.”
German composer
Hans
Zimmer, who scored the film, collaborated on the track, which was recorded in London in December, the day after Billie’s 18th birthday.
She will perform the song live for the first time at the Brit
Awards on Tuesday at London’s O2 Arena, accompanied by her brother, along with Hans and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
British singer Sam Smith, who won an Oscar in 2016 for Writing’s On The Wall, the title song for 007 film Spectre, has given it the thumbs up as well.
The 27-year-old said: “She’s done such a beautiful job and she’s kept it classic, which I’m so happy about. I am really impressed.”
The forthcoming film’s director, Cary Fukunaga, said: “Billie Eilish has been my number one choice to do this theme song since I came on board this project. Eighteen months later, I can hardly contain my excitement for this moment.
“She and Finneas have delivered a spectacular and haunting song that gives me chills every time I listen to it.”
No Time To Die, out in cinemas on April 2, is the 25th instalment in the James Bond franchise and Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as Bond.