No Time to Die (song)

In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Eilish explained how she was offered to make the next James Bond theme for No Time to Die, with her brother Finneas O'Connell.[8] On December 19, 2019, they flew to London to work with Hans Zimmer and his orchestra.[9] Finneas explained in an interview that he and his sister wrote and recorded the new James Bond theme song in three days while on a tour bus in Texas. While "No Time to Die" was still in production, the siblings met with the producer Barbara Broccoli, after performing a show in Dublin.[10][11] Broccoli had flown to meet Eilish and Finneas.[11] They were given parts of the script and started to create the theme. Finneas had originally tried to write the song on a guitar, but Eilish scrapped the idea.[11] Finneas later found a piano in the green room of a Texas arena and played a riff which would later appear in the song.[11]

Zimmer liked their demo and the trio would eventually meet in person to start recording the song with a 70-person orchestra at George Martin's AIR Studios.[11] She concluded saying, "For, like, a month-ish, like, half a month maybe, we were just kind of going back and forth to their team and us about, like, just getting it right and getting it right and getting it right and it went through a lot of different versions and then we got it, like, we all worked really hard, Hans was incredibly—like, easy to work with. It was a really good, collaborative experience."[9]

Musically, "No Time to Die" is a pop, electropop and R&B ballad.[12][13][14][8] The track runs at 74 BPM and is in the key of E minor. It runs at four minutes and two seconds.[15] Eilish's vocals span E3 to D5, which include a belted B4.[16] According to Roisin O'Connor of The Independent, the song "features classic elements of the most memorable Bond themes including a slow build; a dark, shivery theme; and dramatic orchestration".[17] Cassie Da Costa of The Daily Beast said the song "begins with moody, atmospheric piano music before Billie's pop-enunciated alto vibrato creeps in with depressive yet vague observations about love, loss, and violence".[18] The song features orchestral arrangements by Hans Zimmer as well as Johnny Marr on guitar.[19]

According to Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork, the lyrics reflect the "betrayal hinted at in the film's trailer and embody the tension of espionage".[14] In the chorus of the song, Eilish sings about a lover's betrayal "Was I stupid to love you?/ Was I reckless to help?/Was it obvious to everybody else/That I'd fallen for a lie?/You were never on my side/Fool me once, fool me twice/Are you death or paradise?/Now you'll never see me cry/There's just no time to die."[20]

Eilish was announced as the performer of the theme song for the 25th film in the James Bond franchise in January 2020, initially via the franchise's official Twitter account.[21] Eilish called the opportunity "a huge honor",[2] and O'Connell said they "feel so so lucky to play a small role in such a legendary franchise".[2] No Time to Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga described himself as a fan of the duo, and the film's producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, said the song is "impeccably crafted".[5] At the 92nd Academy Awards, Eilish said the ballad was "written" and "done".[22]

Eilish performed the song live for the first time at the 2020 Brit Awards on February 18, 2020 alongside Finneas, Zimmer and Marr.[18]

The official music video for "No Time to Die" was released on October 1, 2020.[23] The video was shot in black-and-white clip and was directed by Daniel Kleinman, who has designed every title sequence for the James Bond series since 1995, except Quantum of Solace in 2008.[23][24][25] In the visual, it shows Eilish singing behind an old-fashioned microphone, as she stares into the camera interspersed with scenes from the film showing James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) engaging in a love affair.[23][24][20] Justin Curto, writing for Vulture magazine, mentions the video has "smokey lounge-singer vibes".[26] Rachel McRady of Entertainment Tonight commented that it was clear that "Madeleine betrays 007 in some way as the video continuously shares shots of the agent looking distrustful as he gazes upon his ladylove".[23]

Alexis Petridis of The Guardian gave an overall positive review, stating that "No Time to Die" is a "confident", and "appealing addition to the Bond theme canon."[27] Chris Willman, writing for Variety, wrote that the track was one of the better James Bond themes to be written in the last 25 to 30 years.[28] Roisin O'Connor of The Independent stated that "'No Time To Die' is one of the best Bond theme songs we've had in some time."[29] Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine said, "the lush, darkly cinematic track falls in line with past 007 themes".[30] Cassie Da Costa of The Daily Beast described the song as "not at the level" of Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" and Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice", and said it was certainly not "Eilish's best, but as of late, the Bond universe has been perfectly satisfied with good enough."[18]

In June 2020, Billboard ranked "No Time to Die" as the 22nd best song of 2020 so far.[31]

Credits adapted from Tidal and 007.com.[32][33]

• Billie Eilish – vocals, songwriting
• Finneas – production, songwriting, bass, percussion, piano, synthesizer, drum programming, vocal arrangement
• Stephen Lipson – production, mixing
• Johnny Marr – guitar
• Hans Zimmer – orchestral arrangements
• Matt Dunkley – orchestral arrangements
• Rob Kinelski – mixing
• Casey Cuayo – mix engineering
• Eli Heisler – mix engineering
• John Greenham – mastering

• List of number-one digital songs of 2020 (U.S.)
• List of number-one digital songs of 2020 (Canada)
• List of number-one singles of 2020 (Ireland)
• List of Official Audio Streaming Chart number ones of the 2020s
• List of top 10 singles in 2020 (Australia)
• List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 2020s
• List of UK Singles Downloads Chart number ones of the 2020s
• List of UK Singles Sales Chart number ones
• List of UK top-ten singles in 2020