00Eilish - No Time To Die | Review

The newest Bond film, No Time To Die, is due April 3rd 2020 and Billie Eilish's theme song has finally been released. It's certainly a change to the traditional Bond themes so how does it hold up?

Billie Eilish's No Time To Die Cover

With the newest Bond addition, ‘No Time To Die’, arriving in a mere 2 months, it was about time for the new Bond Theme to make an appearance. Speculations have been flying since it was revealed that America’s newest (alt)pop star, Billie Eilish, would be singing this theme. Now the song has been floating about for a few days, it feels appropriate to give my verdict.

Eilish had a lot to live up to with Adele’s ‘Skyfall’ and Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ coming before her new release: ‘No Time To Die’. Some of the most epic of Bond songs were released before her time in the spotlight so there was a huge shadow for Billie to get through, and in my opinion, she smashed it. Billie Eilish is renowned for her alternative approach to her music, with some of her songs teetering between genres and this song is no different.

No Time To Die Movie Poster

Eilish brings forward a brilliant mix of traditional bond songs, her own style, and the tone of the new film. There is certainly bravery in her refusal to provide people with what they expect of her and instead bring what is needed for what she’s creating. The new film is very likely to see the end of the Bond saga; the films have been ever-changing since Daniel Craig became the new bond. There has been a drastic change in the amount of ‘Bond Girls’ and how obvious they are, the films have adapted a much more tragic and intense storyline, and there has been a dramatic decrease in ‘cheesy’ bond lines and quirks. The end of the saga is nigh and Billie Eilish’s new approach to the theme encapsulates these changes into one song to finish it off.

As well as this, Billie does still keep some of the common themes throughout the bong songs. For example, the instrumentals in the song have the epic and intense nature of its predecessors, building up towards some predictable ‘epic scene’ that’s likely to feature in the film. The song also has an eerie ‘love-song’ vibe that’s also common in other bond songs such as ‘Skyfall’ by Adele. These are not even to mention the cheeky ‘bond theme’ insert at the end of the song and the reverb-soaked guitar in the main chorus that features in almost every bond theme ever.

Billie really doesn’t hold back in this song - she brings forward the perfect end to the Bond saga, including just the right amount of change, tradition, and power in her song ‘No Time To Die’. She holds on to the somber yet powerful feel of bond themes while introducing a more quiet and heavy voice to symbolise the change and ultimate end of 007.

This is not to say that if the saga continues from this film that Eilish’s song will be any lessoned - her song still holds towards the changes in the Bond films and it’s very likely that this won’t be the last major change to the bond series before it’s end.

Billie Eilish No Time To Die