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Comments
It's a little melodramatic at times, but that's Smith's style of singing, I guess. It was to be expected. I think some fans against the song will be more tolerant to it when you see it over the opening titles.
I'm not that forgiving :P an Oscar is not enough, Sam should win the Golden Globe and Grammy too for that song just to rub it in "their" faces, ha! :))
I'd even give him a Tony (the song is theatrical after all)!
Kind of useless without the song, but if you play it in the background you'll get the idea ;)
I recall people saying it'd never reach No. 1 either though...
Well, comparison for comparison's sake;
Australia: SF - #5, WOTW - #44
Belgium: SF - #1/#1, WOTW - #13/#36 (2 different charts for whatever reason)
Germany: SF - #1, WOTW - #22
Greece: SF - #1, WOTW - #9
Hungary: SF - #1, WOTW - #2
Ireland: SF - #1, WOTW - #9
Italy: SF - #1, WOTW - #73
France: SF - #1, WOTW - #16
Netherlands: SF - #1, WOTW - #32
Scotland: SF - #3, WOTW - #1
Switzerland: SF - #1, WOTW - #6
UK: SF - #2, WOTW - #1
US and other countries aren't out yet but it seems, indeed, the majority have spoken so I don't think it'll be getting any of those other high honors that Skyfall achieved. However, getting the No. 1 spot in 007's home country is still a good enough mark to get to.
Most especially as it's the only Bond theme to ever have done so - still quite an achievement in my book regardless of what one thinks of the song!
You can't do this comparison so early. For starters, the physical CD has not been released yet, and in many countries WOTW has not been counted for full 7 days yet.
WOTW will probably be a sleeper hit, it may not go to No 1 in many countries but stay in the charts for a long period of time.
Skyfall was more of an instant hit, of course it also stayed rather long in the charts of some countries.
WOTW does not have to be more successful than Skyfall. It has nothing to prove.
It has already achieved its goal of promoting the movie and make a fine addition to the Bond theme legacy.
Flemings Bond fell in love once, and his job essentially killed her.
Vesper doesn't count as the relationship was founded on lies, which is why Fleming's Vesper killed herself in the book. Exposing the truth
would have driven Bond away and landed her in prison.
CR movie overplayed the romance and SP will also overplay the Swann romance, which is another reason that the song, aside from being wretched on its own artistic merits, is also a waste of space thematically, as Bond simply does't fall for girls, unless their name happens to be Tracy, daughter of one Marc Ange Draco.
With OO7, the job comes first.
Eon got this right for 20 films, until the new age of drama Bond.
So I agree with you and @km16....and only a very minor quibble over word lust.
Film Bond has gone beyond the constraints of the character Fleming created. There are qualities that get lost in translation for each generation. I don't really think it's fair to judge on the Fleming standard. Woman are different today than they were in the 60s. If they are just objects of desire to Bond in the 10s, there will be a sizable disconnect between the film and the mainstream audience. And for what it's worth, even though this era of films hasn't had the most ideal set of circumstances to be scripted around, it has executed its parts well.
The song is a downstream product of the change. Credit to EON for making allowing some risk in a selection of Sam Smith that is commercially safe.
Give this man a sausage.
Yeah, people are deluded if they think that this disrespectful petition is going to change Eon's mind.
I also remember many people wanted them to do another theme song for CR because YKMN wasn't initially liked. Look how that turned out. Petitions in these instances rarely work if at all.
What a sad bunch. WOTW is here to stay, whether that offends one or not!
Are we already forgetting how Bond treated Solange and Séverine? Used them and played them like a golden harp and then discarded them (or they died). He literally left Solange without a moments hesitation. Bond using women as objects or means to advance in his mission (props if you will) is still very much a thing and from what we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if Lucia or the Latin actress is one of those character types as well.
Except that, in most cases, songs peak and then move down the chart. They rarely, outside of the US at least, chart upwards. No doubt WOTW will sell a hefty load once the movie releases but I'm fairly certain that the trend will stay in tact and that this song will slowly die off, only receiving a boost for a week or two later this month, early November. Hell, it's already dying off quicker than expected on the US iTunes chart.
The point of the comparison however was to provide context that, no, WOTW is nowhere near the level Skyfall was which was the point in my posting those numbers, not to argue how well it'll sell in the longrun. That's irrelevant to the argument. It's highly doubtful it'll win any number of the awards Skyfall won because of those reasons. Skyfall was the bigger hit in the grand scheme of things worldwide and was more successful off the bat, has nothing to do with whether either song is good or not or better than the other. Also, it was a given that the Oscars were going to give Bond something due to the 50'th anniversary and all that jazz.
It very well could be nominated for Best Original Song at any of these award shows, but it won't snag the wins. I'd bet money on that.
Neither are the main Bond girl. Vesper and Camille are the only substantial female leads in the Craig era and both provide an alternative to the usual Bond girl shtick. Of course there are disposable pleasures, it wouldn't be Bond without that, but in terms of a female lead, which is what we're discussing when it comes to this 'hot potato' known as love, then I don't see a problem. It continues the DC tradition of having a connection that is more than just sexual. Bellucci is there for straight out shagging.
Ha ha
LOL It really comes down to how far they are going to take the similar paths of OHMSS. The winks and nods are there, plain as the eye can see, in the trailers and TV spots. Just how far they take it though remains to be discovered but I wouldn't be surprised if Swann, if she is indeed Craig's Tracy, ends up biting it. (Pure speculation on my behalf, obviously)
I mean, the song kind of sums it up, doesn't it? The writing's on the wall. So the real question is, does he just become smitten or will it wind up being a romance in the way the music video and the song's lyrics lead you to believe and if so, how long exactly will it end up lasting?
Essentially it’s the Guardian doing a live blog looking into the reactions to WOTW.
Interesting, there is reference to an article in The Sun quoting Smith who says that Mendes was involved in writing some of the lyrics for the song. Apparently, Mendes wanted to make sure that Smith’s song still had some masculinity to it.
This must be the first instance of the director being directly involved in the title song. I know Martin Campbell had previously spoken about how the title song was a corporate and marketing decision and one he had little say in. It’s clear that EON have tried to let Mendes oversee as much of the production as possible and really take the lead. It’s probably the reason he is the only director in over 20 years to ever direct consecutive Bond films.
I had read somewhere that Mendes asked Smith to clean up some of the lyrics to ensure Bond did not appear overtly wimpy (yes,......it was initially more 'sappy' than it is now) but I did not realize that Mendes actually wrote lyrics.
I'm now firmly in favour of him leaving the franchise after SP no matter how successful this film is. Just my opinion based on my visceral reaction to this tripe.
You Know My Name
Another Way To Die
Skyfall
Writing's On The Wall
you can see that it is obviously difficult for EON to give us a "proper" Bond theme that is recognised as such.
Was Chris Cornell's contribution more Bond-esque than Sam Smith's?
Or Another Way To Die??
Skyfall (while not being really that good) was received with open arms by everyone after those two first not very Bond-esque theme songs. While YKMN may be a very good rock song, it is not really a Bond theme. But we have grown accustomed to it.
WOTW confused many people with its falsetto singing. Furthermore after Skyfall which has a much better reputation than it deserves the follow up had to fall flat.
Maybe if EON had tried something completely different that cannot be compared to Skyfall or the other two songs, people would have accepted it.
WOTW is not better or worse than the other three songs. All 4 songs are well written, lyrically and musically and are well produced. EON wouldn't allow low quality.
Tastes are different.
One reason WOTW gets so much hate and primitive comments is the current age of social media where anything gets commented on immediately and mostly in a negative way!
It has become a international sport to bash, slash and ridicule anything live on Twitter, Facebook or other social media. And don't be fooled, 90% of the active social media followers are 25 years old or younger. It is not representative in any way.