Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell spilled how they achieved the sultry, mysterious sound of No Time To Die, the theme song for the upcoming James Bond movie of the same name.
Billie Eilish And Finneas Had Dreamt To Write A Bond Song For Ages
“For many years, we’ve wanted to write a James Bond song,” Eilish said.
“It was like a complete fantasy,” she continued.
The Bad Guy singer also said that it was “insane” to her and her brother — a songwriter and producer known professionally as Finneas — when their wish came true at the end of the summer of 2019. Finneas and Eilish have been writing together since Eilish’s very first single, Ocean Eyes, was released on SoundCloud in 2015.
“We kind of started with making sure we got a melody that we thought was really solid before we tried any lyrics out,” Eilish said.
It was crucial for Eilish and Finneas to be able to include the title of the movie in the song, she explained.
“It wouldn’t have been satisfying otherwise,” she said.
The title of the movie was the first thing to be taken into account in the writing process. Eilish explained she and Finneas then wrote the rest of the song accordingly, providing a narrative that would make sense with the title.
Working With Hans Zimmer
Of course, the two were under a lot of pressure to deliver the perfect James Bond song.
“We were pretty stumped, and then there was just one day where Finneas was playing on the piano, and he just played this one melody,” Eilish recalled when she first heard the melody of the chorus of the song, released in February this year.
The pair got to work with world-famous composer Hans Zimmer, known for being a frequent collaborator of British-American director Christopher Nolan.
Eilish said Zimmer loved the song.
“He really connected to it, which was crazy for us,” Eilish said.
Apparently, Zimmer insisted that Eilish and Finneas got to watch the movie before finalizing the song and working together. Yes, Billie Eilish and Finneas have already seen No Time To Die, obviously. Sadly, the rest of the world will have to wait until next year to lay their eyes upon the movie directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.
No Time To Die is poised to hit theaters in April 2021
